Winter Cabin Conundrum
by Mars1040
Summary: High School AU. A harmless school trip turns into a dangerous one when the owner of the cabin that the students of Kingdom High are staying at tasks Sora and his friends to find his killer. Leading an investigation is hard when you are snowed in and the killer could be someone you know.
1. Part I - Chapter 1

Axel: Aren't you on a roll?  
Mars: Well I don't have anything to really do until January...except look for audition material...  
Jenny: Nothing says Christmas like a murder mystery, right?  
Mars: Well I've always wanted to write something like this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. Would I get in trouble for not putting this at the beginning of my fics?

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 1**

It was Kingdom High School's annual leadership conference. That was when the school chose fifteen students to take on a three-day trip to a remote place and to get them to work together to develop leadership skills. This year, they chose me, Riku and Kairi to go this year. And that's where our problems began.

The bus ride wasn't exactly a quiet one. A lot of the people going on this trip were the popular kids, you know, Saïx, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Larxene, Marluxia and…Roxas. They kept playing loud music and trying to talk to each other over the music. It got really annoying after a while. Our chaperones, Braig and Dilan, didn't care enough to get them to be quiet. The other people on the trip couldn't get them to be quiet either, Naminé, Xion and Ienzo were too shy to say anything, Terra and Aqua had long given up on getting them to behave and me, Riku and Kairi just didn't care enough.

To be honest, I didn't wanna hear Roxas' voice, but if I spoke up, I would've caused problems. You see, Roxas was our friend last year—freshman year—but at the beginning of this year, he left us to hang out with Axel and his friends. He was friends with Xion and Naminé too, but he left them and they were too shy to make any new friends. Riku never really forgave him for that. I can't say I completely forgive him either, but I don't want to stop being his friend either.

Over all the noise, I heard Braig and Dilan talking.

"So your friend, Xehanort owns this cabin?"

"That's right, let us rent it out for the weekend for half price! Quite a bargain for the school woudn't you say? Maybe they'll finally find money in the budget to bring back the sharpshooting team."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Come on, sharpshooting is the most popular sport the school cut last year!"

"It was also the most expensive, that's why they cut it."

"Alright, so the guns were expensive, but so what? We brought home the gold every time."

"And I don't think they liked you very much either Braig."

"What's not to like?"

"Your arrogance, your boastfulness and your all-around annoying personality."

"So then fire me, that oughta save the school a few bucks right?"

"Have you forgotten? You have tenure, they can't fire you."

"I know, I just like reminding people."

I stopped listening after that. I turned my mp3 player's volume all the way up and took a nap on the bus. Luckily, I was able to sleep through all the noise. Riku woke me up when we arrived.

When we got off the bus, we saw a huge cabin sticking out of the side of the mountain rock. It was built in a weird sort of way, the rooms stuck randomly out of the building, like they were just tacked on. But the cabin looked very fancy, at least from the outside.

"Weird rooms," Riku muttered.

"But it's supposed to a upscale ski resort," Kairi pointed out.

"That was before Xehanort bought it in the middle of construction. He took over and it ended up like…this."

"Does he use this place for anything?" I asked.

"Nope," Riku replied. "He just lives here, alone. Kinda creepy, isn't it?"

"And we're staying here…"

"It's just for three days," Kairi told me. "What could possibly happen?"

"We could get snowed in," Braig came up from behind us. "We are supposed to get a blizzard here tomorrow."

"Isn't it your job not to scare the students?" Riku snapped.

"As if. If you scare that easily, you never would've been chosen for this trip." He walked past us, "There's scarier things than getting stranded in the mountains."

So we were told to get our bags off the bus and go inside and wait in the lobby. We waited there for a half hour before Xehanort finally came around with another kid wearing dark clothes and a helmet covering his face.

"Welcome, students of Kingdom High School, to my humble abode!" He greeted us with a creepy grin. "This is the first time I've had guests, so Vanitas here has spent all week preparing your rooms. You have him to thank for it." A couple of people muttered words of thanks, while Vanitas silently bowed. "Now, I'll let your chaperones inform you of your activities for the next few days."

He and Vanitas left while Braig and Dilan told us about our workshops and everything. We also got our room assignments, me and Riku were put in a room with Axel and Roxas. I groaned when I heard this. Riku would be at their throats for the whole three days. I decided to make the best of it, what else could I do?

After we got settled in our rooms, there was still an hour before the first workshop started so I decided to take a look around the place. I started on the top floor, where our workshops would be. There were a bunch of large rooms, including a game room, complete with a pool, ping pong and foosball table. The floor itself was pretty deserted, except for Vanitas. It looked like he was looking for something so I asked him about it.

"Master Xehanort wants to see you," he told me.

"Me? What for?" I wondered.

"He didn't say."

He lead me to a locked room, he used a key and opened it. Inside was what I guessed was Xehanort's bedroom. It was just as big as the other rooms, but it had a bed, a few bookcases, a couple of armchairs, a couch and its own fireplace. Xehanort himself was sitting in one of the chairs facing the fireplace.

"Ah, Sora, good of you to come," he said without facing me or anything. "Please take a seat."

I slowly made my way to a chair facing him, "Vanitas said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes I did, would you like anything? I could ask him to make up a pot," he offered.

"N-no thanks."

He looked over at Vanitas, "That will be all."

He bowed and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him. I was a little uneasy at being in a locked room with a creepy old man.

Xehanort chuckled, probably sensing my discomfort, "Do not fret Sora, I keep the door to this room locked so you kids won't come wandering into my personal abode."

"Okay," I smiled as politely as I could, but it was hard considering how uncomfortable I felt.

"I asked to see you because you and your two friends, Riku and Kairi are the only people in this cabin I trust."

"Why's that?"

"This is our first meeting. I have met your classmates, as well as your chaperones before, none of them are all too pleased with me." He took a long pause. "I have done some unsavory things in the past, and as a result, I'm going to be murdered tonight."

My jaw dropped. I didn't think he was being serious, so I forced out a chuckle, "Very funny Mister Xehanort, murdered, come on."

"As much as I would like it to be a joke, it's not. I'm going to be killed by someone in this cabin, and I want you to find out who it is, if not to avenge me, then to protect you and your friends."

I gulped, it was hard to imagine that anyone here murdering anyone. Well, maybe some people, but not everyone. I got up, "Maybe I should tell Braig or—"

Xehanort got up too, "I'm afraid that cannot happen, if you tell anyone—besides your friends—you could be in grave danger." He walked over to the door and unlocked it, "I wish you luck Sora, if what Dilan and Braig said were true, then you and your friends should have no problem finding and subduing the murderer." He opened the door, "Goodbye."

I left without saying anything else. I decided to forget what I heard. It was ridiculous anyway, one of us murdering Xehanort.

The rest of the day was uneventful, we went to workshops, had lunch, lounged around, nothing out of the ordinary. But everything changed when dinner came around. We were told to wait in the lobby for Xehanort because he told Braig and Dilan that he wanted to make an announcement. When he didn't show up on time, I didn't think anything of it. Then we heard a scream. We all ran to the top floor, and we saw Aqua, sitting on the floor outside Xehanort's bedroom in shock.

Terra crouched down next to her, "What happened Aqua?!"

"Mister Xehanort…! He's…"

Braig opened the door, "Dead."

I ran to see if it was true, and it was. Xehanort was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, staring up at the ceiling with lifeless eyes. I was scared because he was right.

There was a murderer in the cabin.

It was someone I know.

I'm the only one who can find out who it is.

Axel: Okay, who's the killer?  
Mars: I dunno.  
Jenny: You don't know or don't wanna tell us?  
Mars: I don't know, I'm going to be picking who gets picked off at completely random. Whoever's left beside Sora, Riku and Kairi is the killer.  
Axel: I thought you stopped writing fics where you make up the story as you go along.  
Mars: My OCD finally let up to do this project.  
Jenny: Now let's see if you can finish it.


	2. Part I - Chapter 2

Axel: Someone's been working hard on this.  
Mars: Once again, nothing to do.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. If this is what I do with them without owning them then they're probably better off this way.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 2**

Braig and Dilan put us all on lockdown as soon as Xehanort's body was discovered. We were confined to our rooms until the next morning. After a while, Vanitas delivered dinner to us and told us that we weren't allowed to leave for any reason until Braig or Dilan said so.

"Aw come on!" Axel grumbled as soon as Vanitas left, "You can't expect us to sit here and wait to get picked off one by one!"

"Everyone's locked down Axel," Riku reminded him. "The killer can't get into our rooms."

"Unless one of us is the killer," Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah," Axel stared Riku down. "Where were you before the body was discovered?"

"You're not saying _I_ had anything to do with it?" Riku retorted.

"Anything's possible."

"What if someone just wanted to kill Xehanort?" I suggested. I had to do something to keep those two from fighting.

"He has a point Axel," Roxas agreed. "Xehanort did ruin a lot of people's lives."

"How?"

"Roxas," Axel said in a warning tone.

"We can at least tell him about Ienzo, half the school should know by now."

"What about Ienzo?" I asked.

"Ienzo originally wasn't supposed to come to this school, he was supposed to go to Radiant Academy with a full scholarship and everything! He was even supposed to become an intern for Ansem the Wise himself!"

"What happened?"

"Xehanort was one of the school's backer, and he 'tested' Ienzo."

"Illegally," Axel added. "Out of all the people going for that scholarship, he chose Ienzo to screw over."

"He had his scholarship and credibility taken away," Roxas finished. "It ruined his life."

Suddenly, everything about Ienzo made sense. He wasn't quiet because he was shy, he was depressed. I felt really bad for him and I wondered how I could help make it right.

"You can't make it right," Axel told me. "There's nothing you can do, Ienzo's up a creek without a paddle career-wise."

"He doesn't strike me as the type to go and kill someone," Riku said.

"Desperation can make someone do anything, and there's plenty more Xehanort did to other people here that would give someone motive."

We dropped the subject after that. Roxas and Axel went to one corner of the room while me and Riku went to the other. Riku noticed that I was acting differently, but I decided to wait until the morning to talk about it so Kairi can hear about it and no one else would be listening in.

The next morning we saw that the snowstorm had started. The four of us in the room wondered if Braig called the bus to pick us up and if it could make it in this storm. That;s when Dilan came in and told us to come to breakfast down in the dining room and that he and Braig would make an announcement. There was some time before that so me and Riku got Kairi and we went into the dining room before everyone else. That's when I told them what Xehanort told me.

"He _knew_ he was going to get killed?" Kairi asked.

"It shouldn't be a surprise if what Axel said was true," Riku pointed out.

"And you really think it was someone here?"

I shrugged, "I don't know what to think anymore. I really hope he was wrong, that it was just someone who broke in here."

"This place is too remote for someone to just break in and kill Xehanort," Riku told me. "The most logical conclusion is that it was someone here. The question is, who?"

"We should talk to Aqua first," Kairi suggested. "She found the body, she's the best place to start."

"Yeah, if we talk to her first, we won't arouse suspicion," Riku agreed.

"Okay, sounds good," I said.

Then Terra came into the dining room, "Have any of you guys seen Aqua?"

We didn't.

"Is something wrong?" Kairi wondered.

"I can't find her," he told us. "She wasn't in her room and she wasn't in the lobby."

"Maybe she'll be here later," Riku said. "She was probably investigating Xehanort's death."

That seemed like something Aqua would do. She was always looking into mysteries and things like that. Even if Xehanort did something to her, she would be quick to bring a murderer to justice. Terra agreed and decided to wait for her during breakfast.

After that, everyone came into the dining room, well everyone but Aqua. We were starting to worry about her. Since she was the one who discovered the body, she would be the first one that people would go to when they ask about Xehanort. She was probably the killer's second victim…or maybe she's the killer and she escaped last night. Either way, I knew we weren't going to talk to her anytime soon.

Braig and Dilan announced that they called the bus here to take us home early and that we shouldn't worry about the killer. Then Vanitas served breakfast, and Aqua still wasn't there. Finally, Terra spoke up and asked everyone where she was. Everyone said that they didn't know, but the look on Larxene and Marluxia's face said that they were hiding something. They were rooming with Aqua—Marluxia was allowed to room with the girls since he wasn't into them—so they knew something that we didn't.

After breakfast, we were allowed to walk around—probably because Braig and Dilan were busy looking for Aqua to keep us locked in our rooms. Riku said that he'd talk to Ienzo about Xehanort, while Kairi wanted to stay with me. We went to talk to Larxene and Marluxia in their rooms.

"We don't know anything about Aqua," Larxene snapped when I asked her.

"You were rooming with her, you have to know something," I urged.

"We don't snoop into her business," Marluxia said. "Do you know what your roommates were doing this morning?"

"They were in the room up until breakfast," I told them, half guessing. "You should know something, unless you caused her disappearance."

"What are you implying?"

"You know exactly what he's implying!" Kairi backed me up. "Now talk before we go to Braig and Dilan about this!"

"What are you going to tell him?" Larxene asked.

"That you were the last people to see her," I informed them. "I'm sure Dilan won't be nearly as nice as we are about these questions."

Larxene growled, "You are so infuriating! Alright, she left after Braig and Dilan told us to go to breakfast, said she had to meet someone or something."

"Luxord called our room to talk to her," Marluxia gave up.

"Marly!"

"I am not going to jail for that cheat," he turned to us. "Last night he called the room, said he wanted to speak to Aqua. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he killed Xehanort, then disposed of Aqua to get rid of the evidence."

"We don't know that!"

"What did Xehanort do to him?" I wondered.

"He had him framed for a crime, a couple of them actually, landed him in juvenile hall."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not. In a few years it won't matter anyway, but from what I hear, spending time in that place changed him for the worse."

Me and Kairi left after that. To tell you the truth, I didn't know if Marluxia was telling the truth or not. He had plenty of reason to lie and throw other people under the bus. We had to make sure that the story was true before looking into it. So we found one of Luxord's roommates, Demyx and asked if Luxord made a call. It turns out, he did, and he left soon after Braig and Dilan came to the room in the morning.

After that, we met Riku down in the lobby. He talked to Ienzo and found out that he was with Naminé and Xion when the murder happened, so he couldn't have done it. But he did find something in one of the rooms on the top floor and he gave it to Riku. It was a bloody knife—the murder weapon.

"Does anyone else know he had this?" Kairi asked.

"I dunno," Riku said. "But no one knows I have it, and that's the important thing."

"We can bring this to the police when we get back!"

"I'm afraid that's not happening," Braig came down the stairs, Riku quickly hid the knife. "No one's leaving and no one's coming to this place. Just heard on the radio, the storm caused an avalanche at the base of the mountain, cars can't get through."

"How long until they can clear it?" I wondered.

"Days at the very least," he sounded more concerned that I've ever heard him.

Then we heard a scream in the dining room. Riku sprang to his feet, "Ienzo's in there!"

We all ran towards the dining room. On the way, the power went out and everything was dark. I felt someone run past me. I turned to see who it was but I couldn't make anything out in the dark. When the lights came back on, we saw Ienzo, dead on the floor. It looked like he hit his head on the edge of the marble table. Braig went over to him, checked his pulse and closed his eyes.

"You know what is scarier than being stranded in the mountains?" He grimly asked, "Being stranded in the mountains with a killer on the loose."

Axel: Welp, two people dead and one person missing. Don't think you've ever had a body count in a fic before.  
Mars: Nope. Anyway guys, if you like this story, feel free to drop a review. And if you don't like it...don't read. I'm not looking for constructive criticism on this one.  
Axel: Maybe after it's finished?  
Mars: Probably not going back to it after it's finished.


	3. Part I - Chapter 3

Riku: You're making good progress...maybe a little too good.  
Axel: Come on Riku, don't tell me that you don't wanna know the answer to this mystery.  
Mars: I know, this is pretty exciting, even I don't know what's gonna happen next.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, nothing's changed since this morning.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 3**

"Poor Ienzo," Kairi whispered as Braig covered Ienzo's body with a table cloth.

"It looks like he fell and hit his head," Riku observed.

"It might not be the same one who killed Xehanort," I suggested.

"Probably," Braig said. "But that means we have more than one killer here and that one's more dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"The other one's using this chance to kill and blame it on Xehanort's killer." He groaned and muttered something that sounded like, "I never would've thought it would come to this."

"Braig…?" Riku spoke up.

"Get everyone in their rooms—no, then they'd find out that Ienzo…augh!" He kicked the table, "This isn't supposed to be happening, damn it!"

"Is there anything we can—" Kairi started talking but Braig cut her off.

"No, get out of here, don't tell anyone about this, and find Dilan, tell him to come here right away."

We left the room to find Dilan. I couldn't help but notice that Braig was more broken up than he should've been about Ienzo's death. Kairi pointed out that since Braig chose this place for the trip, maybe he feels responsible for what's happening. Me and Riku thought it was more than that.

Dilan was on the second floor, talking to Terra—probably about Aqua—when we told him to meet Braig in the dining room. After he left, Terra asked about what was in the dining room. We tried to dodge the subject, but he got it out of us. We told him about what happened to Ienzo he fell to his knees.

"That means Aqua's probably dead too," he said.

"Come on, you don't know that for sure!" I assured him. "Ienzo's death could've been an accident."

"Come on Sora, with two people already dead, Aqua doesn't have a chance."

He went back to his room with a heavy heart. As much as I didn't want to believe it, he had a point. Aqua could've been killed because she saw something. Ienzo was probably killed because he had the murder weapon and couldn't give it to his killer—because he didn't have it, Riku did. We went up to the third floor to find a place to talk. We decided to go to the library, but when we got there we saw Axel, Demyx and Luxord setting up a board game.

"Sora, Riku, Kairi, nice of you to drop by," Luxord greeted us. "Might I interest you in a game of Clue?"

"You're playing board games at a time like this?" Kairi asked.

"It's rather fitting, isn't it? One person dead, another one missing, it's an intriguing mystery, don't you agree?"

"You think this is just a game?" Riku snapped.

"Don't be so serious Riku, we all have our own methods of coping." He waited for a response from Riku, but he didn't get one. "If Ienzo were here, he'd agree with me. He loves a good mystery, you didn't happen to see him on your way here?"

"No," we all answered.

"What a pity, that just leaves us three, unless one of you would like to join us?"

"Hey, how long did it take you to find this?" I asked.

I felt someone run past me out of the dining room after the lights went out. If Luxord was here when the lights went out then he couldn't have killed Ienzo, but that still left him a suspect for Aqua and Xehanort's death.

"I was in my room with Axel and Demyx when the power fluttered," he explained. "I suggested that we find something to do in case it doesn't come back next time. We came here and found Clue in that stack of old board games." He pointed to a table with some dusty board games, "That's my alibi in case another body turns up."

"Hey, don't say that," Demyx knocked on the table. "If another body turns up then there really is a killer on the loose!"

"Who's to say there isn't?" Axel wondered.

"Just because we can't find Aqua, doesn't mean she was killed. Maybe she locked herself in a room somewhere."

"Optimistic thinking Demyx," Luxord told him. "But alas it's probably not true. Now," he looked back at us. "Last chance, are you going to play or not."

"I'll play," Riku volunteered. He sat at the fourth spot on the table.

"Good show Riku, now without further ado, let's begin."

Me and Kairi stuck around to watch and to see if Luxord would say anything about Aqua. For a while, no one said anything not related to the game until Demyx spoke up.

"Hey, who do you think killed Xehanort anyway?" He wondered.

"Could be anyone," Axel shrugged. "Most of us have motive."

"Whoever it was, they were sloppy," Luxord said. "If I were to kill anyone—namely Xehanort—I would do it in a way where I wouldn't get caught. I would've poisoned him."

"Poison, really? They're bound to trace it back to you."

"Yeah, I would've drowned him, make it look like an accident," Demyx grinned in a way no one has seen him before.

"I would've burned the whole place down, destroy the evidence," Axel explained. "I obviously can't do that here so that was out of the question."

Me and Kairi looked at each other. It didn't seem like we were getting anywhere with Luxord so we left. We went downstairs toward the lobby to figure out what to do next when we bumped into Saïx.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," he said.

"About what?" I retorted.

"About Ienzo." When we didn't say anything, he continued talking. "I know he's dead."

"How?" Kairi snapped.

"Braig and Dilan came out with someone wrapped up in a tarp, the only person it could've been was Ienzo."

We still didn't say anything, for all we knew, Saïx could've been the killer. It wasn't impossible, Saïx is kind of a sociopath. We knew he'd do anything to get what he wants, even kill. If we said anything, we could've been his next victims, so it was better to stay quiet.

"You don't know anything about it?"

"Even if we knew something, we wouldn't tell you." I told him.

"Fine, be that way."

He walked away and I hoped that would be the last time we talked to him on this trip. We went down into the lobby to talk about what to do next. Kairi said that the best thing to do without raising suspicion would be to ask people about Xehanort. We went to the room Kairi shared with Naminé and Xion to talk to them. We couldn't get anything about them, but Naminé did know what happened to Axel. As soon as she started telling the story, Xion left.

"It's too hard for her to hear," Naminé explained. "You see, Axel had an older brother, Reno, he was in charge of security for the Shin-Ra corporation. Xehanort wanted secrets, so he attempted to bribe him in order to obtain them. Reno refused, saying that his integrity is worth more to him than anything."

"And Xehanort found a way to take that away from him?" I guessed.

She nodded, "He got the secrets anyway, and framed Reno for letting them go. They fired Reno, and no one is willing to hire him now."

That wasn't really a surprise. Shin-Ra is the biggest corporation in the country, if you managed to screw up with them, you couldn't live it down.

"Why does that bother Axel so much?" Kairi asked.

"Their parents are dead, Reno has to take care of Axel and his younger brother, Lea," Naminé replied. "From what I hear, Reno's depressed and Axel has to work for them to get by."

"That's rough," I said. Then, I realized something, "Naminé, when did this happen?"

"Last summer, why?"

So that was it. That was why Roxas hung out with Axel all the time, he needed a friend, a real friend to cheer him up. If we knew that, we'd let him hang out with us too. Or maybe…he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. He didn't want the unwanted attention. We thanked Naminé and left the room.

"I never knew," Kairi whispered.

"I don't think he wanted anyone to know," I told her.

"Do you think he's the killer?"

I shook my head, "I don't think Axel's the kind of person to go around killing everyone."

"Remember what you said, the one who killed Xehanort might not have killed Ienzo or Aqua."

"Maybe we should ask him."

"Do you think he'd tell you?"

"It's worth a shot, come on, let's go talk to Axel."

"I'm afraid Axel will not be talking to anyone," Luxord came down the hall with Riku.

"Why not?" I asked, afraid to know the answer.

"He's dead, he and Demyx were shot," Riku explained.

"Shot? How? We didn't hear a gunshot!" Kairi pointed out.

"No one said it was with a gun," Luxord pulled something out of his pocket. "This was lodged in the table."

I took it in my hands to get a better look at it. It was a bolt that belonged to a special kind of firearm. One that sharpshooting teams use. I gulped at looked to Riku and I saw that we were thinking the same thing.

"There's only one person here who has something like this," he said.

Our chaperone, Braig.

Axel: I'm DEAD?!  
Mars: So sorry, not my call.  
Axel: Come on Mars!  
Mars: I'm serious, if your number came up as a suspect, this whole thing could've taken another turn. Like, Nobody turn. All the Organization members would've been Nobodies. But that's not the case here.  
Riku: Where's Vanitas?  
Mars: His number isn't coming up on the random generator so his whereabouts are unknown.  
Riku: Well what about this multiple ending suggestion by this reviewer?  
Mars: Multiple endings means I have to rewrite the whole thing from the ground up.  
Axel: Like Higurashi or Umineko?  
Mars: Hmm.


	4. Part I - Chapter 4

Link: Okay Mars, I'm butting in here, but you're working on this story way too fast.  
Mars: Oh Link, it's an interesting plot.  
Axel: Mind summing up the important details?  
Mars: After the chapter.

Disclaimer: Still not owning Kingdom Hearts.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 4**

Riku and lead me and Kairi to the library while Luxord went to get Braig and Dilan. That's where we saw Axel and Demyx's bodies, untouched from when they were killed. Demyx was hunched over on the table and Axel was on the ground. I couldn't help but feel bad for them, especially Axel and his brothers.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"Luxord said he needed to go to the bathroom," Riku started to explain. "I went with him so I could watch him. We were gone for only a few minutes."

I took out the bolt that Luxord gave me, "You said you found this in the table?"

"That's right," he pointed to the spot in the table where they pulled it out.

"Then…Braig couldn't have done this," Kairi said. "Think about it, he was the sharpshooting coach, he wouldn't have missed his target, and if he was going to kill Axel and Demyx, why would he shoot the table and let them know he was here?"

"That makes sense," Riku admitted. "But who could've gotten their hands on his firearm?"

Before any of us could think of anyone, Luxord came into the room with Braig and Dilan. Both of them looked shocked but Braig looked angrier than I've ever seen him.

"Go to your rooms," he told us. "And stay there, you're all on lockdown."

"For how long?" Kairi asked.

"Until I say so!" He shouted. He turned to Dilan, "Round everyone up, get them to their rooms, then go find Vanitas. If I know Xehanort, there's a way to lock everyone in their rooms."

We left as soon as we could. No one's ever seen Braig this angry, but I had to wonder why. Dilan's a chaperone and he's not nearly as angry. Then again, he's always had a cool head compared to Braig. But there was something else. Xehanort did say that me, Riku and Kairi were the only ones without motive. Maybe he was the one who killed Xehanort. When me and Riku got to our room, we saw Roxas curled up in the corner ready to cry.

"Roxas? What's the matter?" I wondered.

"I didn't mean to do it…" He said.

"Do what?"

"I didn't mean to kill him…"

"Kill who?" Riku asked.

"Ienzo…" He started crying.

Me and Riku looked at each other, we couldn't believe that Roxas could do anything like that. Ienzo's death looked like an accident, but we had to be sure.

Riku sat down next to him, "Calm Roxas, start from the beginning, what happened?"

Roxas stopped crying to talk, "After we talked about Xehanort, I decided to ask around and figure out who killed him. I wanted to start with Ienzo, but when I found him in the dining room, I saw he was talking to you and being really secretive. I thought he did it and I was trying to convince him to turn himself in. He said that he didn't do it…I didn't believe it. Then we started fighting and I pushed him and…he hit his head on the table. I screamed, and then I heard you guys coming and the power went out so…I ran!"

That solved one mystery. There wasn't any doubt Roxas would lie about anything like that, especially in the state he's in now. I sat down next to him and comforted him. After ten minutes, he finally stopped crying.

"You think I'm going to jail for this?" He asked.

"No," Riku assured him. "It was an accident, everyone will understand."

Vanitas came into the room, "You are all on lockdown, I'm going to lock your door so that you can't get out."

"Wait," Roxas stopped him. "Axel isn't here." Vanitas ignored him and locked the door from the outside, leaving him speechless. "B-but what about Axel?"

"Roxas…" I started, but I couldn't find the words.

"Axel isn't coming back," Riku said slowly.

Roxas immediately knew why, "N-no! That can't be true! What about his brothers? He has to take care of them!"

We helplessly watched as Roxas broke down again. I didn't know what would happen to Reno and Lea, but I knew Roxas would do something to make it right, he was that loyal to Axel. It made me sad that he wouldn't show that loyalty to us anymore, but I was glad he wasn't the turncoat we all made him out to be.

"Now what?" Riku wondered. "There's still at least one killer here and sitting in our rooms won't get us anywhere."

I stood up, "We need to talk to Braig, he knows something."

"But Vanitas locked us in, how are we going to talk to him?"

I looked out the window to see if there was a way to get down safely. There wasn't, but I saw Braig come out through the front door and walk around to the side of the cabin. I wanted to know what he was up to, but there was no way to find out. The only thing I could do was wait until he came out. Riku wondered what I was looking at and I told him. He joined me in waiting, and when he calmed down Roxas did too. We watch the window for about an hour before seeing Braig come around the corner carrying another wrapped-up body inside.

"You think that's Aqua?" Riku asked.

"There's only one way to find out," I opened the window and looked out it to see if there was something I missed.

"Sora! What are you doing?!" Roxas shouted.

I looked up and I found a latter that took me to the roof of part of the building with our rooms. It wasn't much of anything, but it was a start. I got my coat and started climbing out. Riku and Roxas tried to talk me out of it, but there was no way I was passing this up. When I got to the roof, it was hard to stay on, with the harsh winds and the snow stinging my face. I managed to explore it and I found a rope latter long enough to get to the ground. I took it and slowly made my way to the ground.

I ran into the building to look for Braig. There were was a water trail that lead from the door so I followed it. It led me to a closed door on the second floor. If Braig was the killer, I would probably be looking at my death right now. But for the chance that he wouldn't kill me right away, I had to find out. Not for me, especially not for Xehanort, but for Aqua and for Axel and Demyx. I took a deep breath and I opened the door.

Braig had his back to the door, he was standing in front of a lit fireplace. On the floor in front of him were the wrapped up bodies of Ienzo, Axel, Demyx and Aqua. I was sad to see that Aqua was dead, and scared to find out if Braig killed her or not.

"Dilan, is that you? I was about to look for you," he turned around and was shocked to see me. "Sora? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for answers," I told him.

Braig ignored my answer, "There's another way out of the rooms, isn't there? Of course, do I know Xehanort—"

"How did you know him?"

"It's grown-up stuff Sora, it doesn't concern you."

"It does when you go around killing my friends! Now talk! Xehanort knew that he was going to die last night by someone in here, so how did you know Xehanort, and why would you kill him?"

I sounded as tough as I could, but I was really scared. If Braig was the killer, he could pull out his firearm and shoot me dead. But instead of that, he starting laughing and clapping his hands, which got me angry.

"What are you doing? Answer my question!"

"I have to hand it to you Sora, it takes some guts to stand up to someone who could be a killer."

"Xehanort told me to find out who his killer is."

"Well then congratulations, you found him."

"I did?"

"Mr. X was stabbed with one of his own knifes in his bedroom. The knife was tossed away in a room on the top floor."

I stared at him, speechless. There was only one way he knew all that. And from the look he was giving me, he knew what I was thinking.

"You're looking at Xehanort's killer."

Axel: That was quicker than I thought.  
Mars: When Braig's number came up as a suspect, I had to make him Xehanort's killer.  
Link: And have multiple killers.  
Mars: Anyway, I need to come up with truths so people won't get confused.


	5. Part I - Chapter 5

Link: I can't help but sense that this story is moving too quick.  
Axel: What makes you say that?  
Link: I read the end of the chapter.  
Axel: Spoilers!

Disclaimer: Still not owning anything.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 5**

I couldn't believe it. I didn't wanna believe. But it was true. Braig, our chaperone killed Xehanort. I didn't move, I was too afraid, any sudden movement could cause him to come and kill me.

"Come on, don't look at me like that," he said to me. "I did the world a favor. I did you a favor."

"How did you do me a favor?" I snapped.

"He was going to ruin your life next, I don't how, but he was going to, that's what he does. Besides, if I wasn't going to someone else was, someone who didn't deserve it." He crossed his arms and sighed, "But at this point, maybe I should've let the killers reveal themselves and not waste innocent lives in the process."

I told him how Ienzo's death was an accident, but he reminded me that Axel and Demyx's deaths were cold-blooded murders. That meant that there was still a killer out there. I was relieved to know that Riku and Kairi were safe, there was no way that Roxas, Naminé or Xion could've been the killers. But then I realized that it was possible for Xion to kill Axel and Demyx, if she already had the firearm. That meant Kairi could be in danger!

I ran out of the room with Braig yelling after me. I started running up toward the rooms, but I crashed into Larxene on the way up. She punched me in the face and backed up.

"So it was you all along!" She said to me with more malice than usual. "You're the one picking everyone off like flies!"

"No I'm not!" I defended myself.

"What's going on?" Braig caught up with me, "Why aren't you in your room?"

"You let us walk around after breakfast, remember?" She reminded him.

"No, I put you all back on lockdown, didn't Dilan tell you?"

"Dilan couldn't tell us anything, he's dead!"

"That's not possible!" Braig shouted, "He told Vanitas to lock everyone in their rooms after he rounded everyone up!"

"It is possible," Marluxia appeared at the top of the stairs. "He could have simply found Vanitas while looking for us and decided to save time by telling him before he was finished."

"If that's true, then the killer might not be locked in his room!" I realized.

"On the contrary, we've walked through the whole place and we haven't found anyone else," Marluxia explained. "And if I were Luxord, I would bet that the killer went to his room and allowed himself to be locked up to prevent suspicion."

"Alright Marluxia," Braig walked up to him. "You have until the count of three to spill the name of the killer before I decide to turn you into the police as an accessory to murder. One…"

"You can't be serious!"

"Two…"

"He killed Dilan, there's nothing stopping him from killing me!"

"Three."

"Okay! I won't go to jail for him. It's…" He whispered something into Braig's ear.

Whatever it was made him pull back, "I knew it." He looked to me and Larxene, "Find Vanitas and get to your rooms, that includes you Marluxia."

When he went back downstairs, I asked Marluxia who it was. But he said that he wouldn't tell me. We headed back to our rooms, hoping that we'd find Vanitas there, and we did. He was on the floor, weakly squirming with a bolt wound in his back.

"Get Braig!" I told Marluxia and Larxene, they were quick to leave. I tried to sit Vanitas up, but he was in too much pain, "Who did this to you?"

"Didn't see," he said weakly. "Heard girls scream."

My heart stopped when I thought that Kairi might be in danger. I laid Vanitas back down and ran over to the girls' room. It was wide open and Kairi and Xion were lying face down on the floor. They didn't have any visible wounds so I assumed they were alive. I took Kairi into my arms and shook her awake.

"Who did this to you?" I asked.

"I didn't see," she replied.

"Sora," I looked over to Xion and saw that she woke up too. "Naminé killed Aqua, she pushed her off the roof."

My eyes widened when I heard that. Why would Naminé do anything like that? Why would anyone want to do that to Aqua?

It turns out that she was involved with some shady stuff that Aqua was going to expose. Naminé couldn't let that happen, so she killed her. At least that's what Xion said. There must've been more to the story. Like what happened with Roxas and Ienzo, that was an accident. I said that I would find Naminé, but she stopped me and told me that she wasn't the one who knocked them out.

It was someone worse.

And I couldn't help but think that sometimes the obvious suspects are the ones who did it.

Axel: Well who is it?  
Link: You see how short this was?  
Axel: I'll comment on that when it's finished, who knocked out Kairi and Xion and kidnapped Naminé?


	6. Part I - Chapter 6

Mars: So...this was meant to be the last chapter, with the climax here and the next one being the epilogue. But then...oh read the chapter.  
Axel: Don't see why I should. You killed me off.  
Mars: Things aren't always what they appear to be.  
Axel: So this chapter isn't mostly exposition and no action?

Disclaimer: Still not owning anything.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 6**

This is what's been happening: Yesterday, Xehanort told me that he was going to be killed that night and that me, Riku and Kairi were supposed to find his killer. After that, Braig took a knife that Xehanort kept around and killed him with it and disposed of it in another room. Then Aqua found him dead in his bedroom. We were placed on lockdown until the morning, but during that time, Luxord made a call to meet Aqua on the roof the next morning. He met with her and told her that he liked him, but she rejected him.

After Luxord talked to her, Naminé confronted her about knowing some shady business she was involved in. She ended up pushing her off the roof and none of us knew what happened to her. Before breakfast, Ienzo found Xehanort's murder weapon and brought it down to the dining room to show someone. Riku talked to him and took the knife for safe keeping. That was when Roxas showed up thinking that Ienzo was the murderer and ended up knocking him down and killing him. When the power went out, he screamed and ran away while me, Riku, Kairi and Braig ran into the dining room to see Ienzo on the floor.

Not long after that, someone saw Braig and Dilan take Ienzo's body out of the dining room and probably thought of something. He broke into Braig's room and took his firearm, ready to kill people and blame it on the murderer. It turns out this person was involved with drug dealing in the school, and Naminé, as well as Axel and Demyx, worked for him. But Axel and Demyx were about ready to give him up almost as soon as they returned from the trip, so they were killed as soon as they were alone.

When Braig found out, he put everyone back on lockdown. He told Dilan to round us up and get Vanitas to lock us in from the outside. He found Vanitas before he was finished finding everyone so he told him to make sure everyone was inside their rooms and lock them. Then he must've met his killer and confronted him about his dealings, and that's when he was killed with Braig's firearm.

The killer then returned to his room so no one would get suspicious. But his roommates were talking about the killings and they realized that neither of them knew where the killer was during the day. That's when the killer knocked them out, escaped from his room, attacked Vanitas in the hallway, knocked out Kairi and Xion and kidnapped Naminé.

Those were the facts that we all figured out when we met up in the library (except for Naminé and her kidnapper). Braig figured there wasn't any point in hiding it now since the killer made himself known. We were all from different groups in the school and we never really hung out with each other, but tonight, we all agreed on one thing:

Saïx had to be stopped.

"But what do we do?" Roxas asked, "We're unarmed and he's already killed three people!"

"If I know Xehanort, there must be hidden weapons all over the place," Braig said. He looked over at Vanitas, "Right?"

Vanitas nodded, he was bandaged up as good as Braig could manage and he was resting in an armchair. He pointed to a thick book on a shelf behind Larxene. She opened it and found a bunch of throwing knifes.

"Hey, how'd you know that I'm a champion knife thrower?" She grinned.

"Hollowed-out books, what a cliché," Luxord pointed out as he took another thick book and pulled out a knife.

He handed Braig the knife, but he rejected it, "Me using a knife? As if."

"Didn't you use a knife to kill Xehanort?" I pointed out.

"Yeah, to confuse you all," he explained. "Saïx has a firearm, the only way to beat that is with another firearm with a better shot. So Vanitas, where are the guns?"

Vanitas had to think before answering, "In each of the rooms on the top floor, there are rifles behind the large paintings."

"The top floor?" Terra asked, "But Saïx could very well be between here and there!"

"Then I'll have to be quick about it," Braig started to head for the door, but I stopped him.

"No Braig, you can't go out there alone!" I told him.

"We don't have much of a choice here Sora, I'm the best chance at stopping Saïx."

"We'd be sitting ducks without our chaperone," Larxene agreed. She showed off her knifes, "But I don't mind giving Saïx a few reasons why he shouldn't mess with my friends."

"You're planning on going with him?" Marluxia laughed, "It's your funeral."

"Actually, it's yours too since you're coming with me!" She snapped.

"As much as I would like to accompany you Larxene, Saïx would surely kill me at the drop of a hat."

"He would, but it would be far less painful than dying to me!"

Larxene looked like she was ready to throw one of her knifes at Marluxia's groin. None of us were surprised or worried. Larxene was a known sadist and no one here liked Marluxia anyway. Well, except for Larxene, which was really funny since she's about to impale him. He gave up and decided to go with her and Braig.

Braig shrugged, "You wanna risk your lives, that's fine with me. If we're not back in one hour, think the worst."

Before he left, he turned to us, "Does anyone have any last words they want to say to me?"

"I was the one who ruined your garden," Roxas said. He looked at me and told me, "I might as well get that off my chest."

"Anything else? Any words of friendship?"

"Marluxia," Luxord spoke up. "I believe I speak for everyone here when I say, no one here will miss you."

He wasn't surprised, "Point taken. If anyone back home asks how I died, lie."

Then the three of them left and we were left wondering what to do if they didn't come back. I looked around, Terra was deep in thought—probably thinking of a backup plan if Braig didn't come back; Luxord kept himself busy by looking through books; Roxas was still pretty shaken about what happened with Ienzo and Axel; Xion looked pretty worried and I wondered what else she knew about the people here. But I was more worried about Riku and Kairi, how'd we get into this mess? We're not into all this illegal stuff and we've never met Xehanort before yesterday. After a while, Larxene and Braig came in with three guns.

"Marluxia's probably dead," Larxene announced. "We found the room Saïx and Naminé were in and I told him to distract them while we got past."

"So don't go looking for him," Braig told us. "So who wants to get one of these and go get him?"

"I do," Terra took one of the guns. "I want answers, Naminé is the only one who can give them to me."

"Anyone else?" Braig asked.

Riku looked at me and took one of the guns, "I'll go."

"Riku!" I pulled him away, "Are you crazy? You don't have to go after Saïx!"

"And you didn't have to go after Xehanort's killer," he replied. "I might not have met him, but I knew that Xehanort deserved to die, and that his killer was better left forgotten. But Axel, Demyx, Dilan, they didn't do anything wrong. Someone has to bring Saïx to justice."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right, Saïx had to pay for his crimes. I decided to do the only thing I could do.

"Give me the gun then," I said. "I'll do it."

"Hold up there buddy," Braig interrupted. "If I recall correctly, you tried out for my sharpshooting team last year and you were an awful shot back then."

He was right, I was a terrible shot. But I didn't care, I wanted to help.

"Listen Sora," he continued. "If you wanna help that bad, you could find something in here and hold the fort." He turned to Vanitas, "You got a real weapon for him, right?"

Vanitas slowly stood up, "I'll show you."

Riku, Terra and Braig left, so I decided to follow Vanitas to see where the weapons are. Roxas and Xion came with us and Kairi joined us, not wanting to be alone with Larxene or Luxord. He brought us to a bookcase. He tipped a couple of random books back and the entire bookcase sank into the floor, revealing a wall of swords. I took a plain-looking one, it was sort of heavy, so I had to use two hands to use it.

Actually, this wasn't my first time using a sword. I took a couple of fencing and sword-fighting classes when I was younger so it wasn't completely new to me.

When I saw Roxas and Xion take swords I had to ask, "You're fighting too?"

"Saïx killed Axel," Roxas tested the sword on the corner of the bookshelf behind us. "I want revenge."

"Saïx has to be stopped," Xion said.

It seemed like she knew more than what she was telling us, but there wasn't any time for questions. We had to focus on protecting the room, the people in here, Kairi.

To be honest, I was more afraid of losing her more than anything. I was in love with her. I never told her how I felt because I was afraid of it hurting out friendship. But being in this situation made me realize that not telling her before either of us were killed would be the biggest mistake in the world. I decided then and there, when we got out of this I would tell her, no matter what it meant for our friendship.

We heard gunshots go off, they engaged Saïx. It seemed like they were right above us, we could hear muffled voices. From what I could tell, Riku told Saïx to let Naminé go, Terra saying that he would pay for what he did to Aqua and Braig being condescending. There were two more gunshots and then a thud and Riku's voice calling out someone's name. I didn't know who fell, but something told me that it wasn't Riku.

"Come on, we have to help them!" Roxas told me and Xion.

The two of them ran out while I stayed in the library to protect Kairi. When Vanitas went to go back to his chair, he left the two of us alone. It looked like she had something important to say.

"Sora," she started. "If we don't get out of this—"

"Don't say that," I interrupted. "We'll get out of this, I promise. But right now we have to focus so we can stay alive. After that, we can talk about everything."

She smiled at me, "Right."

It was right then the doors burst open. I ran to them with the sword brandish and I was astonished at what I saw.

Naminé was pointing a gun at me.

Axel: Things just got interesting, what does this mean for Naminé?  
Mars: Well I wrote myself into a corner with Sora guarding the library and I had to write something but the cliffhanger was so good.  
Axel: Something in me doesn't want to be killed by a gun-wielding Naminé.  
Mars: Naminé has an alibi for your death.  
Axel: Oh yeah...


	7. Part I - Chapter 7

Mars: Here we are, climax and epilogue all bundled into one chapter.  
Axel: Kinda short, you don't think this is kind of a let down?  
Mars: At this point, I don't care, I have a plan to appease the readers if this seemed anti-climactic.  
Tidus: When am I coming in?  
Axel: You're not even in this story.  
Tidus: I can dream.  
Axel: You have two complete stories, why are you still pining to be in more?  
Tidus: Romance is nice, but it's not as good as adventure.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix does.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part I - Chapter 7**

I never would've imagined it come to this. Naminé, the shy girl who sits in the back of the classroom and draws was pointing a gun at me. I couldn't understand it.

The only thing I could say was "Naminé, why?"

"I can't go to jail!" She shouted, "I didn't have a choice, going into business with Saïx was the only way."

"Only way for what?"

"What do you think?" Larxene chimed in, acting perfectly calm even though there's someone in the room ready to shoot me.

"He doesn't know Naminé's circumstances," Luxord told her. "You see Sora, Xehanort ruined her life too. He killed her parents, and put her in the care of a foster home of his own making, where children have to buy their way out."

"Why would they have to buy—?" I started to ask.

"Because they won't let you leave otherwise!" Naminé interrupted. "They take okay care of you when you're a kid, but once you hit eighteen, they own you! That can't happen to me!"

Vanitas laughed weakly, "So you plan on killing everyone here to hide your guilt? I wonder how the police are going to ignore all the dead bodies in the building—"

Naminé fired the gun in his direction. He wasn't shot, but it got him to stop talking. I couldn't tell if he was shocked or if he was afraid that she wouldn't miss next time. She pointed it back at me. I had to wonder, why me? Why not Larxene? I'm sure she treated her worse than I ever did. Besides, I didn't even know anything about this before now!

"I'm sorry Sora," she said, getting ready to pull the trigger.

I couldn't let her kill me, I had to live to tell Kairi I love her. I was about to charge her, but someone pushed me down and I heard two gunshots. I saw Naminé hit the floor and I felt someone fall on top of me. My heart sank when I realized that it could've only one person. I carefully turned over and I saw Kairi on top of me, barely breathing.

"I'm sorry Sora," she whimpered. "I couldn't let you…"

She was gone, just like that. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to. I held her and I started crying out her name, really crying. I think Riku came over and tried to comfort me, but he was too upset to help.

Our best friend was gone.

The next day was just a blur. All I knew that Marluxia, Braig and Naminé were dead. Vanitas got us meals, but I didn't eat, neither did Riku, Roxas or Terra. When I went to sleep, I didn't wanna wake up. I dreamt that me, Kairi and Riku were back home, hanging out like it was a normal day. Riku woke me up the next day to pack. The storm let up and the road was being cleared. The police would be there in the afternoon and we would be home that night.

That afternoon, after I was questioned by police, I sat in the lobby, waiting for Riku to be done with questioning. I felt guilty about it. We got to go home while everyone else was dead. I wanted to help everyone, somehow, some way. Vanitas sat next to me.

"It's too bad about Kairi," he told me.

"About everyone," I said.

"But especially Kairi."

He paused like he was waiting for a response, but he didn't get one.

"I bet you care about her, more than anyone else."

He was right.

"You would do anything to save her, wouldn't you?"

Right again.

"Wouldn't you?"

"I would," I answered. "If I could do these last three days over, I would save, not just her, everybody."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

He grabbed my shoulder. I felt something weird go through me. I couldn't actually describe it, only that it was weird and unnatural.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said before leaving.

I wondered why he said that, but before I could ask, Riku came and we were able to leave. A police car took us down the mountain. I decided to go to sleep again, hoping that I'd see Kairi in my dreams.

Tidus: That did seem anti-climactic.  
Axel: I'm still dead and...wait, why doesn't this story say "complete"?  
Mars: That's another mystery that the readers can solve.  
Tidus: How?  
Mars: The clues are in the notes.


	8. Part II - Chapter 1

Link: Mars? Isn't it 5AM for you?  
Mars: More like 5:30.  
Link: What are you doing up?  
Mars: I could ask you the same thing.  
Link: I'm always awake, what's your excuse?  
Mars: Let's say air mattresses that deflate overnight aren't very good for sleeping on. Where's Axel?  
Link: Sleeping, like a normal person.  
Mars: ...but he's a nobody.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 1**

I was really annoyed when Riku woke me up. I was having such a good dream. We were at the park, him, me and Kairi. It was summer, we were eating Sea-Salt Ice Cream—something Roxas introduced us too. I didn't care that Roxas wasn't with us, he was probably helping Axel with something. We were sitting in our usual tree, the one at the highest point in the park so we could watch the sunset. We weren't doing or talking about anything special, we were just hanging around, enjoying each other's company. I didn't want it to end.

I was wondering why it felt so good to me, it was really ordinary. I took my headphones off and wondered why I couldn't hear my music even though I turned my volume all the way up.

When we got off the bus, we saw a huge cabin sticking out of the side of the mountain rock. It was built in a weird sort of way, the rooms stuck randomly out of the building, like they were just tacked on. But the cabin looked very fancy, at least from the outside.

"Weird rooms," Riku muttered.

"But it's supposed to an upscale ski resort," Kairi pointed out.

"That was before Xehanort bought it in the middle of construction. He took over and it ended up like…this."

That conversation seemed familiar.

"He just lives here, alone," Riku added. "Kinda creepy, isn't it?"

"And we're staying here…" I muttered, really worried for some reason.

"It's just for three days," Kairi told me. "What could possibly happen?"

"We could get snowed in," Braig came up from behind us. "We are supposed to get a blizzard here tomorrow."

"Isn't it your job not to scare the students?" Riku snapped.

"As if. If you scare that easily, you never would've been chosen for this trip." He walked past us, "There's scarier things than getting stranded in the mountains."

I was really getting a case of déjà vu. I felt like I heard all of that before, word-for-word.

I decided to see if Riku or Kairi felt the same, "Hey guys, we haven't had this conversation before, right?"

They looked at each other and thought.

"No," Kairi said.

"First time we've ever talked about this place," Riku shrugged.

That didn't make me feel better. We were told to get our bags off the bus and go inside and wait in the lobby. We waited there for a half hour before Xehanort finally came around with another kid wearing dark clothes and a helmet covering his face. Even though I've never seen them before, I felt like I knew who they were.

"Welcome, students of Kingdom High School, to my humble abode!" Xehanort greeted us with a creepy grin. "This is the first time I've had guests, so Vanitas here has spent all week preparing your rooms. You have him to thank for it." A couple of people muttered words of thanks, while Vanitas silently bowed. "Now, I'll let your chaperones inform you of your activities for the next few days."

He and Vanitas left while Braig and Dilan told us about our workshops and everything. We also got our room assignments, me and Riku were put in a room with Axel and Roxas. I groaned when I heard this. Riku would be at their throats for the whole three days. I decided to make the best of it, what else could I do? Besides, Roxas was our friend.

I caught myself thinking that, even though he dumped us and his other friends for the popular kids last summer. He didn't just dump us, he dumped Xion and Naminé and they had no one to talk to. I should've felt angry, but I wasn't.

After we got settled in our rooms, there was still an hour before the first workshop started so I decided to take a look around the place. I started on the top floor, where our workshops would be. There were a bunch of large rooms, including a game room, complete with a pool, ping pong and foosball table. The floor itself was pretty deserted, except for Vanitas. It looked like he was looking for something so I asked him about it.

"Master Xehanort wants to see you," he told me.

"Me? What for?" I wondered.

"You'll see."

He lead me to a locked room, he used a key and opened it. For some reason, I was filled with dread. Inside was what I guessed was Xehanort's bedroom. It was just as big as the other rooms, but it had a bed, a few bookcases, a couple of armchairs, a couch and its own fireplace. Xehanort himself was sitting in one of the chairs facing the fireplace.

"Ah, Sora, welcome back," he said without facing me or anything. "Please take a seat."

I was more confused than ever, but somehow, I didn't trust him.

I stood my ground and tried to be as polite as possible, "I've never been here before Mister Xehanort."

"Actually, this is your second time here," he corrected me.

Before I could say anything, Vanitas grabbed my shoulder and I felt something go through me. Suddenly, I remembered things that I didn't before. Xehanort was right, it is my second time here. Not just in the cabin, but it was my second time experiencing the next three days!

Link: Wow, no one died or was found dead in this chapter, that's a first.  
Mars: Yeah,  
Link: Even though you copied and pasted most of the first chapter.  
Mars: No, I changed some things.  
Link: Something tells me the readers won't be happy.  
Mars: All their favorite characters are alive, what's not to be happy about?


	9. Part II - Chapter 2

Mars: Happy New Year guys.  
Link: Any reason in particular you put this up right around midnight?  
Mars: ...No.  
Axel: Wait, chapter nine?  
Mars: Technically it's chapter two.  
Axel: When did you put up the last chapter?  
Link: Five in the morning.  
Axel: Seriously Mars?

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 2**

I didn't know what to think. It couldn't be possible, but I knew in my heart that it was! The next three days happened for me before. Kairi was killed, and it wasn't just her, almost everyone was killed! And they'd be killed again unless I did something.

Xehanort got up to face me, "You look rather stressed, come sit."

I did, not knowing what else to do. I sat in the chair I did last time, the one that faced him.

"Would you like some tea?" He asked, "It would help calm you, I could ask Vanitas to make up a pot for us."

I nodded vacantly.

"Vanitas?"

Vanitas bowed, left the room and locked us in, just like he did last time, only this time he would probably be back with tea.

"I'm sure you have many questions—" he started, but I didn't let him finished.

"You bet I do," I snapped. "For starters, what the hell did you do to me?"

I didn't really curse, but I felt like the situation needed it. He sent me back in time to repeat those horrible three days!

"Now, now," he said, trying to calm me down. "If I didn't know any better I would say that you're ungrateful. After all, you have another chance to save your beloved Kairi."

He was right, I could do this all again and do it right, I could save Kairi.

"Now," he sat down in his chair. "What this is, is a sort of game. You will keep repeating these three days until you get it right. The parameters are all set."

"What are they?" I wondered.

"You should know them, you told them to Vanitas."

That's right, last time I talked to Vanitas, I told him I wanted to save Kairi. So all I have to do is make sure she doesn't die this time around.

"Of course," Xehanort continued. "You won't get anywhere unless you know who'll kill me tonight."

"I know who it is," I told him.

"From the last time around. What makes you think you can stop them?"

"I can."

I got up to leave, but he was still talking to me.

"Remember Sora, even if you can, more than one person here has perfect reasons as to why they want to kill me."

What he didn't know what that no one else probably had the guts to do it. I left the room and went to find the first workshop room to talk to the one person who could help me, Braig. He was in there alone setting up for the workshop.

"Sora, you're early," he said. "I would think that you'd be somewhere else hanging out with Riku or Kairi."

"I know what you're going to do," I told him.

He stopped, "Do what?"

"You're going to kill Xehanort."

He became dead serious, "How'd you know about that?"

"Because I've been through this before, you're going to kill Xehanort, then a bunch of us are going to die because of it."

"Did you just say you've been through this before?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, Braig punched the wall and cursed. I think I knew why. Last time, he told me that Xehanort would ruin my life next. He already did, and I let him. I told him it wasn't his fault that this happened.

"You're the last person I wanted Xehanort to ruin," he explained. "I wanted to stop him but it's too late."

"But it's not," I told him. "All you have to do is not kill Xehanort and everything will be okay."

I saw him trying to think and wonder how it would all work out. If he didn't believe me, then I don't know what I'd do. I guess I would have to start with warning Aqua not to turn Naminé in for drug dealing. Then I'd have to tell Roxas that Ienzo didn't kill anyone. Then maybe everything will be okay, Saïx wouldn't kill Axel and Demyx or anyone else.

Braig sighed, "Alright, I'll humor you for now. But something tells me it won't be that easy."

"Sure it will," I said. "No one else has the guts to kill him."

"I hope you're right."

The rest of the day continued just like it did before, workshops, lunch, hanging out. But this time, we hung out in other places so it didn't seem repetitive, at least not to me. Then dinner came around, we waited in the lobby for Xehanort, but he wasn't showing. I got worried, thinking that maybe Braig didn't listen to me at all and ended up killing him after all. I went over to him.

"Braig you didn't…" I started, but I couldn't say it, not in front of everyone.

"I didn't," he assured me. "I wasn't anywhere near the top floor today."

That's when we heard Aqua's scream. I was the first to run up, Braig was right behind me while everyone else followed. When we got to the top floor, Aqua was sitting outside Xehanort's bedroom, just like before. Braig went over to the door and opened it. He found Xehanort on the floor, face-down in a pool of his own blood.

"Well Sora," Braig whispered so that no one else could hear. "Looks like someone had the guts to kill Xehanort after all."

I felt just like how I did the first time around, scared. There was a cold-blooded murderer among us.

None of us were safe.

Axel: Okay, I think everyone saw that coming.  
Link: I don't think so.  
Axel: Come on, it's in the summary.  
Mars: And since the timeline has been altered, the people who killed and were killed are completely different. Probably.  
Link: Still going through the random method?  
Mars: Oh yeah, if their number comes up, they die...or they kill someone.


	10. Part II - Chapter 3

Raiden: I blinked, how many chapters of this are up?  
Axel: This is ten.  
Raiden: You know, you could've used the time spent on this to continue writing A Metal Gear Christmas Carol.  
Mars: Just looked that one over...I think it needs to be purged.  
Snake: There goes all the Metal Gear stories that you have on here.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this story.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 3**

Once again, Braig and Dilan put us all on lockdown, but that didn't make me feel any better. I knew me and Riku were safe since Roxas and Axel weren't going to kill us. But I was worried about Kairi, she shared the room with Naminé and I wouldn't put it past her to try and kill her again. Then again, she didn't kill Aqua yet, so she doesn't have reason to do anything to Kairi or Xion. But she could've killed Xehanort. Everything about the situation was starting to give me a headache, so I laid down on the bed. Riku noticed I was acting weird so he asked me about it.

"What do you expect?" Axel butted in. "Our host was killed and the only person it could've been was one of us. That's reason enough to be acting weird."

"I mean since we got off the bus," Riku said, wanting Axel to mind his own business.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I told him.

The story was pretty hard to believe. The only reason Braig believed me was because he knew Xehanort somehow. Riku, Roxas and Axel had no reason to believe me.

Axel sat up on his bed, "Well I'm the in mood for a fantastic story, tell it anyway."

So I did. I told them all about how Braig killed Xehanort, Naminé killed Aqua, Roxas killed Ienzo and Saïx went on a rampage killing Axel, Demyx, Dilan before we all banded together and went looking for him. I decided to leave motives out of the picture because if I did we'd be up all night. Of course, Riku and Roxas didn't believe me, but they played along like they did. But Axel seemed like he actually believed it.

"And I bet you think Saïx killed Xehanort," he pointed out.

"Well, yeah, him or Naminé could've done it," I said.

"Hate to disappoint you Sora, but they could've have done it."

"What!"

"Xehanort is Saïx's supplier, and it's not a good time for him to keel over and die," he explained. "You do know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Yeah, Saïx is a drug dealer."

"He is?!" Riku's jaw dropped.

Roxas was confused, "You don't know that…but you do?"

I could tell they both were starting to believe me, at least a little.

Axel continued talking, "Saïx has every reason to go on a murder spree. With his supplier gone, he's about to go out of business. And if he's going out of business, people are going to talk."

"Like you and Demyx," I finished.

"Exactly, we've been looking for a way out for a long time. With Xehanort gone, we can come forward without any real consequences."

It made sense, but it gave Axel and Demyx motive to commit the murder. The fact that he was willing to admit to me that he has motive means that he probably didn't do it. Besides, I knew that they didn't do it because they said they'd destroy the evidence so they wouldn't get caught.

That's when Vanitas came in, gave us our dinner and told us that we weren't allowed to leave until Braig or Dilan told us so. Axel grumbled, Riku retorted, Roxas chimed in and Axel interrogated Riku, just like last time.

"Come on, Riku didn't even meet Xehanort before today!" I pointed out.

"True," Axel backed down. "But then who did it this time?"

"Larxene and Marluxia are reasonable suspects," Roxas started to list names.

I was wondering what motive could they have against Xehanort, so I asked.

"I don't actually know that," Axel told me. "All I know is that they hate Xehanort and they're sociopaths—well Marluxia is, Larxene's ax-crazy."

That didn't really give me much to go by, so I couldn't really put them on a list of suspects. I figured there wasn't anything I could do, but then I remembered Aqua! I had to stop her from meeting Luxord on the roof so Naminé could kill her. I ran to the phone, but I didn't know what to dial to call her room.

"What's Aqua's room number?" I asked.

Roxas didn't know, "Who's Aqua rooming with again?"

"Larxene and Marluxia," Axel told him. He turned to me, "That's four-eleven."

I punched the numbers in and waited for someone to pick up.

Larxene answered the phone, "What do you want?"

"This is Sora," I said. "Can I talk to Aqua?"

Aqua's voice was the next one I heard, "Sora? What is it?"

"Aqua, I was wondering if you could come to my room first thing in the morning."

"Why?"

"I wanna talk to you about Xehanort's body."

"Oh, okay. First thing tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, after Braig and Dilan let us out our rooms."

"Alright, I'll see you then."

After I hung up Axel complimented me on questioning Aqua about Xehanort's body, while Riku was still skeptical.

"Sora, should you be looking into this?" He wondered. "If what you said was true, and you went back in time, what makes you think investigating won't set off more murders?"

"Riku, if we don't figure out who killed Xehanort and expose them, then nothing's stopping Saïx from going on a killing spree just like last time," I explained.

Riku gave up, "Fine, we'll look into this. But we should tell Kairi so she won't be in the dark."

He went over to the phone and called her room. He told her to come to our room first thing in the morning so she can be there when we talked to Aqua. The rest of the night was uneventful until the phone rang. It was about two in the morning. Roxas answered the phone. He was half-asleep until something someone on the other line said something that woke him up.

"I'll be there," he told the person.

He got up, put his shoes on and went for his coat. Of course I wouldn't let him leave in the middle of the night with a murderer on the loose.

"What are you doing?" I questioned him, half-asleep.

"Go back to bed Sora," he said to me.

"No, you're up to something, and I can't let you get yourself into a dangerous situation."

"It has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with me, I'm the one that has to go back to this morning if Kairi dies."

Roxas paused to think before he continued, "Watch out the window for me."

Then he left. I took a chair and put it in front of the window so I could watch. I saw the snowstorm had already begun. I saw someone come out of the front door and walk around to the back of the cabin. I couldn't make out who they were, the storm was too strong and I was too tired. After a while, Roxas came out and went around the back. Then I fell asleep in the chair. Riku had to wake me up, he and Axel were standing over me, wondering where Roxas was.

I was shocked awake, "He didn't come back?!"

I looked around the room and I saw that he wasn't in there. That means I failed and someone killed Roxas. If I didn't fall asleep, maybe I could've seen that he was taking too long to come back, maybe I could've helped him. I told them what happened, how Roxas got a phone call and went to meet someone behind the cabin and how he wanted me to watch the window.

Braig and Dilan came into our room and told us to come to breakfast and that they had an announcement, just like last time. But they noticed that Roxas wasn't in the room and asked where he was. I didn't know what to tell them. Riku told them that Roxas snuck out last night.

"That fool," Dilan grumbled.

"If you see him, tell him to expect a week—no two weeks' detention," Braig told us.

"Snitch!" Axel accused Riku after they left.

"Roxas is better off in detention than dead," Riku snapped.

"That's why we'd better go look for him."

Axel put on his shoes and got his coat, preparing to go outside.

"Wait, I'll go with you," I said.

I went to get my shoes and jacket but Riku stopped me.

"Sora, what about Aqua?" He asked.

"You and Kairi can talk to her," I told him as I ran out of the room after Axel.

We ran downstairs and out the front door into the blizzard. Since we were in our pajamas, it was pretty cold. I led Axel to the back where I saw Roxas and the person he was meeting. We were walking around when my foot kicked something. I brushed the fresh snow away to see what it was, and it was the tip of a shoe. I shouted for Axel to help me while I dug the person out of the snow.

It was Roxas.

Axel: Oh, so it wasn't enough to kill me but kill my best friend too.  
Snake: I killed my best friend once. He was brought back as a cyborg ninja.  
Axel: That...sounds pretty cool actually.  
Raiden: It's not, I mean, you can kick all sorts of ass, but it's pretty painful to go through.  
Mars: Snake, Raiden, get out of my Kingdom Hearts fic.  
Snake: Well why don't we go to a Metal Gear story of yours? Oh wait, THERE IS NONE.


	11. Part II - Chapter 4

**-PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING-  
**Axel: What's with that?  
Mars: Because I'm 90% sure that my readers don't read these notes before and after. Anyway, in case you haven't noticed, I've been updating this story daily.  
Snake: A little more than daily if you ask me...  
Mars: Well I've been on break from school while I've been writing this so I'm here to say that I will be updating this **weekly** instead of daily.  
Axel: No offense Mars but you're pretty bad at schedules.  
Mars: Not when I have the chapters pre-written.  
Axel: ...what.  
Snake: That's a first.  
Mars: Yeah I think I'm a little over-excited when it comes to this story. So this story will be updated every **Friday** from here on out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 4**

There was Roxas, frozen in the snow. It looked like he froze to death, so it was my fault that he was dead. If I was awake long enough, I would've seen that person come back in without Roxas. I could've saved him. Axel fell to his knees, looking like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Then we heard Braig's voice, "It's Roxas, isn't it?

We turned to look at him, and he saw the body.

He groaned, "Looks like nothing's stopping the murderer from getting anyone else."

He told us to go inside and get breakfast while he went to look for something to cover up Roxas in a shed nearby. So me and Axel went back inside, but instead of going to the dining room right away, we headed back to our rooms to get dressed. We saw Dilan on the way and explained that we'd be at breakfast right after and he let us go. When we got to our room, it was empty, so I guessed that Riku and Kairi were finished talking to Aqua.

Since we were alone, I had to ask, "Axel, why did you believe me when I told the story?"

"You mean the whole time looping thing?" He wondered.

"Yeah."

"Truthfully, I don't know. I just felt like we did all this before, even though it's our first time here. And a couple of people feel that way too, Demyx, Marluxia, even Dilan said something about it when I asked him."

I wondered what they all had in common. Then I remembered, they were all killed the first time around. But I didn't know what it meant. I figured that I'd have to hunt down Vanitas and demand answers. For now, I had to get dressed and get to breakfast.

When we got to breakfast, everyone was there—well, everyone but Roxas. The fact that Aqua was a relief to me, but at the same time, it made me worry, I caused the events of the three days to play out differently. Before, I knew what would happen and how to stop it. But now it's different people with different motives, I didn't know if I could stop them from killing Kairi or not. I went to sit with Riku and Kairi while Axel went to sit with Luxord and Demyx.

Riku told me that he brought Kairi completely up to speed and that they talked to Aqua. Yesterday, when Xehanort didn't show up, she decided to go looking for him and found his bedroom unlocked. When she found the body, she was so shocked she screamed, but she said she noticed that he was stabbed in the back. There was no murder weapon, no sign of break-in and nothing for us to go by.

"But there was something that she found weird," Riku added. "There was a tray of untouched tea on the table."

That was something that wasn't there before! And it could actually be useful. When I met with Xehanort, he sent Vanitas to bring some tea. Since he never had a chance to drink it, we have an approximate time of death. I told Riku and Kairi this and they agreed.

"So if we could figure out where everyone was before the first workshop, we can find who the killer is!" Kairi concluded.

"But where do we begin?" Riku wondered.

Marluxia was the last person to show up to the first workshop, so he was our first suspect. To be honest, Marluxia did seem like the type of person to stab someone in the back. I wondered if anyone would be willing to sell him out first. That's when I got the idea of asking Demyx. He was about to sell Saïx up the river, if he knew anything about Marluxia, he'd give him up.

"Let's ask Demyx," I suggested. "If he knows anything, he'd be willing to tell us."

Riku and Kairi agreed. After breakfast, Braig and Dilan told us that the bus would be here to pick us up early. Unlike last time, they didn't tell us not to worry about the killer. I thought that it was either because Braig killed Xehanort last time or that they knew someone had already killed this time. We approached Demyx, but it looked like he was in a hurry.

"But aren't you gonna hang out with Axel and Luxord?" I asked.

"No, I got something to do," he quickly told us.

And he just took off. Something was going on, and if I didn't figure it out, Demyx could've be the first to die. But I couldn't get Riku or Kairi involved, I couldn't risk getting them killed.

"Hey," I started. "Why don't you guys ask around to see what everyone was doing before the first workshop?"

"Just ask around?" Kairi repeated.

"You're not worried that the killer will stop us from finding out who they are?" Riku wondered.

There was no fooling them, so I had to tell them the truth. I told them that I had to go follow Demyx and see who he was meeting in a hurry.

"Then we should go see who it is!" Kairi said.

"But it could be the murderer," I pointed out. "I don't want either of you getting hurt."

"And who's going to protect you?" Riku wondered. "We're going with you."

I could tell by the way they looked at me that I couldn't talk them out of it. Besides, the longer we argued about it, the less time we had to follow Demyx. I gave up and let them come with me as I followed him. He went downstairs into the basement, that's where the pool and hot tubs were. He slipped into a private room and we heard him lock the door. We went up to the door and put our ears up against the door to hear what was going on. Demyx was talking to someone with a high-pitched voice and talked like they owned the place—it was Larxene.

"Were you followed?"

"I don't think so."

"You made sure, right?"

"Of course I did—"

"Because I don't want the whole school knowing about us."

"Who's gonna know? Come on—"

"You know what'll happen if they find out—"

"Larxene, can we just get on with it?"

Then we heard moaning and I realized why Demyx was in such a hurry to meet her. Feeling awkward, we went back upstairs.

"You know," Kairi started. "I never thought that Larxene would go for Demyx."

"That's probably why she was keeping this a secret," Riku replied.

"But Demyx was with Axel and Luxord last time," I told them.

"Maybe they got…_that_ out of the way on the first day," Riku shrugged.

"So Larxene was probably occupied yesterday and couldn't do it," I thought. Then something occurred to me, "Wait, Riku, you believe me about the looping now?"

"I never said I didn't. Besides, you know too much for it not to be true."

"And it does explain a couple of things," Kairi said. "I've been feeling déjà vu since yesterday, experiencing things like I've done them before, even though I haven't."

"Axel said the same thing, and it's not just him," I told them. "He said Demyx, Marluxia and Dilan felt the same way."

"All people who were killed the first time around," Riku pointed out. "But why?"

"There's only one way to find out, we talk to Vanitas."

We went searching for Vanitas. We started in the dining room, then the kitchen, and then the lobby, he wasn't on the first floor. Riku thought that maybe he was in Xehanort's room, so we went all the way to the top floor. But we never made it all the way there, we saw Marluxia on the floor in the staircase, dead.

Snake: Did this chapter have two teens having sex behind closed doors?  
Mars: You sound like that's a rare thing to find.  
Axel: You had to stick that pairing in this story, didn't you?  
Mars: It's my Kingdom Hearts OTP. I have to have it.  
Snake: Did those two ever talk in the game?  
Axel: No, but I don't care. It's still better than AkuRoku.  
Snake: What's that?  
Axel: Let's just say fangirls don't think two guys can have a close friendship without being in love.


	12. Part II - Chapter 5

Axel: Hey, you got a new story up?  
Mars: Yeah, Winter Cabin Elucidation, it's supposed to go with this story. It even has how Xehanort died from the first cycle. So go follow it if you want more insight because-  
Link: Because this part's full of unanswered questions. Just saying.  
Mars: Anyway, if you wanna know exactly how someone died or what exactly went down in the Cabin while Sora was somewhere else, drop me a line or say it in the review and I'll get to it as soon as I can.  
Axel: How many people are gonna actually read this?  
Link: Who knows?

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 5**

I didn't really feel sorry that Marluxia was dead, and I felt bad about that. Besides, I didn't discount the fact that there were multiple killers this time around. I still thought that he killed Xehanort and then someone killed him.

"We have to tell Braig and Dilan," Kairi said.

We decided to split up, Riku went upstairs, Kairi went downstairs while I went to the third floor. I saw Dilan and ran up to him. I told him that Marluxia was dead, he wasn't surprised.

"I was just looking for a tarp to cover him," he told me.

He seemed pretty upset, so I asked what was wrong.

"You would be upset too if two students in your watch were killed," he explained. "It's even harder to think that it was probably a student who did it."

"What makes you say that?" I wondered.

Of course, I knew that it was probably a student killing everyone, but I had to ask anyway.

"Students outnumber chaperones fifteen-to-two, it's a logical conclusion."

It made sense. Dilan left to go find the tarp, so I decided to continue pacing the third floor. Suddenly, the power went out, just like it did last time. There wasn't any scream or yell, which was a relief. Suddenly, someone bumped into me from behind, knocking me down. I heard them run past me down the hall, but I couldn't tell who it was. Against my better judgment, I got up and ran after them. I kept running until I bumped into someone, I couldn't tell if it was the person I was chasing or not.

"Who's there?" The person asked.

I recognized the voice, it was Terra.

"Terra, it's me, Sora," I told him.

The lights came back on and Terra and I were looking at each other.

"Why were you running?"

"I was chasing someone down the hall."

He looked over his shoulder, "Yeah, I heard someone run past."

"We should follow him and see who it was."

Terra agreed. We walked down the hall and saw that there were two places the person could have gone, to their stairs or into the library. I decided to check the library while Terra went upstairs to try to find the person. But I found that the library doors were locked, so there wasn't any way for the person to get in. I was about to go downstairs when Riku and Kairi came looking for me.

Riku found Braig downstairs and went to find Kairi as soon as he told him about Marluxia. They didn't notice anything around them when the lights went out, so I told them about what happened.

"Someone running away during a blackout is very suspicious," Riku pointed out. "They could've killed someone in the dark."

"That's why we have to find out who ran off!" I said.

"Maybe they didn't kill anyone," Kairi suggested. "Maybe they just attacked someone."

She had a point, I didn't want anyone else to end up like Roxas. We walked in the direction that the person came from and we noticed a door that was ajar. We opened it, it was a small living room and Dilan was face-down on the floor. Me and Riku went to check on him while Kairi went to get help. He was unconscious, but he was alive. We turned him over and saw that somebody stabbed him and left the knife in.

"Let's get him to a chair," Riku told me.

We picked him up and put him in an armchair. Braig and Kairi came and went to check on him.

He went over to him, "He'll bleed out if we don't do something. Go get Vanitas, he has to know some first aid."

I objected, "But Braig, I don't trust him, he's the one that got me into this mess in the first place."

"He's Dilan's only hope. Find him. Try knocking on all the locked doors."

So we went to find him again. I decided to go and check Xehanort's room, that's the one place none of us went to the first time around. The door was open. Xehanort was still on the floor while Vanitas sat in his chair, drinking some tea. His helmet was off but I couldn't see his face since his back was to me, but somehow, he knew it was me.

"Between you and me," he said. "I prefer my master dead, it's the only time I get to relax. And I have you to thank for it."

"You should be thanking the murderer—!" I started to shout, but then I realized something. "You—you're the one who killed Xehanort."

He chuckled, "I wasn't the one who left the door open."

I went pale. He was right, I didn't close the door when I left. It was an opportunity for someone to kill him, like a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. That meant the killer could've been anyone, if they all hated Xehanort enough. But I couldn't think about that, I had to get Dilan help.

"Listen, Dilan's been stabbed."

"He's not dead?"

"No, and he needs help."

"What he needs is a suture, I don't do that kind of stuff," he took another sip of his tea. "But Xion knows how to do it."

"How would you know what Xion—?"

"Do you want to keep playing twenty questions or do you want to save your chaperone?"

I stopped talking, he was right, I couldn't be wasting any more time.

"There's a hidden first-aid kit behind the small paintings near every staircase. They're all equipped with suture kits."

I left to find Xion. Before I went down to the fourth floor, where our rooms were, I looked behind the small painting and found a box with a red cross on it. I took it with me and went to her room. I knocked on the door, half-expecting no answer, but she opened the door.

"What is it Sora?" She wondered.

"Xion, do you know anything about suture kits?" I asked.

"Is someone hurt?"

"It's Dilan, he's been stabbed."

"Where?"

She didn't sound surprised, but she was willing to help. I led her down to the third floor to the room that Riku, Kairi and Braig were. When we got there, they put Dilan on a table. I handed Xion the first aid kid and went to work. We were all impressed at how much she knew about stitching up a wound, but we were all confused since we didn't know why she knew this stuff.

"Listen," Braig started. "I didn't get a chance to move Marluxia's body. I put a tarp over it but that's it. Could you do me a favor and put it in the common room? That's the locked door on the second floor, the only one Xehanort gave me a key to. I already put Roxas in there."

He gave the key to me and we left to go pick up Marluxia's body. It was right where we found it, in the staircase. He was already wrapped up so the only thing we had to do was pick it up. I gave Kairi the key and I took the head while Riku took the feet. It felt weird carrying a dead body, I mean, it would've felt worse if it wasn't Marluxia. Everything was going fine until we ran into Larxene.

"What're you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing," Riku lied.

"It looks like you're carrying a dead body," she pointed out a little too calmly.

"So what if we are?" I told her, trying to get her to leave us alone.

"Who is it? Is it the old coot?"

She tried to get a better look, and that's when she saw the pink hair. For the first time ever, I saw her show an emotion. She was shocked and upset.

Finally, she cried out, "Marly!"

She started crying over Marluxia's body. We put it down and just stared. I kind of wanted to comfort her but I was afraid she'd break my arm if I tried. I could tell Riku and Kairi were thinking the same thing. When she finished crying, she glared at us with her psycho eyes.

"Tell me who did this," she demanded.

"We don't know Larxene," I said, hoping that she wouldn't go crazy on us.

"Then I will," she growled before heading upstairs.

We were really lucky that she didn't think it was us. Maybe it was because she was too upset to think straight. Even though last time, she was willing to send him off to die. Nothing was making sense to me. Me and Riku picked the body back up and we continued to the Common Room—the room where Braig put the bodies. Kairi opened the door for us to put Marluxia in. We set him down next to Roxas' body, which was all wrapped up. I took a moment to reflect about Roxas and how I wasn't able to save him.

"I'm sorry," I whispered so that Riku and Kairi didn't hear me.

We left the room and locked it back up again. Since we saw Larxene, we figured that Demyx was free to talk to. We went up to his room to find him. We heard him playing his guitar so we knocked on the door.

He was surprised to see us when he opened the door, "Hey guys. What's up?"

"Demyx, remember how I wanted to talk to you earlier?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," he remembered.

"Can we come in?"

"Actually," he checked his pockets and looked over his shoulder. "Can we do this outside? Saïx is in there sleeping, I don't think he'll like waking up with you guys in the room."

"Sure."

He closed the door behind him, "So what do you wanna know?"

"Marluxia was late to the first workshop," Riku started.

"Yeah, so?"

"We were just wondering if you knew why he was late," Kairi told him.

"How should I know? Marluxia's smart enough not to tell anyone what he's up to."

That made sense, if he was willing to give up his "friends," he'd be smart in assuming that they'd give him up too. Now we weren't even back where we started. With Marluxia dead, we'll never know what he was up to. Demyx went into his pocket for his room key, but it turns out the only keys he had in his pocket were his house keys. He was about to find Vanitas when I had an idea.

"Would Larxene know anything?" I wondered.

He shrugged, "Maybe. He tells her everything, but I don't think you'll get anything out of—"

Suddenly, we heard someone scream. It wasn't a scream of horror or anything, but of rage. We all knew it was Larxene. It was coming from upstairs so we ran upstairs to see what was happening. Then we saw something pretty horrible.

Larxene was lifeless on the floor.

Vanitas was standing over her.

Link: Is this what it looks like?  
Mars: Probably.  
Axel: I guess the butler really did do it.


	13. Part II - Chapter 6

A/N: Well it's almost Friday and I needed to get this out. So, right now, in real life, I'm in a pretty bleak place. I'm in college, I'm staying one more semester than I anticipated and I don't know how to pay for it. I can't get a job, you have to have experience, and how can I get experience if you won't hire me? And I don't think I can take out any more loans and I can't get enough financial aid to cover the tuition and...it's hard. I've pretty much given up all hope of finding a "survivor job" as they call it my choice of career. Anyway, right now, writing this story and getting all these awesome reviews has really taken my mind off everything, and I've even considered updating twice a week, but I'm afraid I might get behind if I do that. And also, this is my longest-running project, if you look at my profile, as I'm typing this, I have up to Chapter 16 written. That's one chapter more than my longest fanfiction, What If?, which is a retelling of Season 5 of Third Watch. So yeah, this is a milestone, and the way I have this story formatted, I might just be able to finish this. So without further ado, Chapter 13.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and it's characters and properties belong to Square Enix and Disney.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 6**

We didn't need any explanation. Vanitas killed Larxene. I was so angry, even though I didn't like her, she still didn't deserve to die. Demyx cried over her body and that made me angrier.

"You rotten—" I started, ready to charge him.

"She attacked me," he said calmly. "She was irrational, I did the only thing I could do to save myself."

"Why did she attack you?" Riku asked, "Was it because you killed Marluxia?"

"Marluxia's _dead_?!" Demyx cried.

Vanitas ignored him, "I didn't kill him, you saw me in my master's room. I was there since breakfast."

"Just because you're Xehanort's servant doesn't give you any right to kill my friends!" Demyx shouted.

He tried to throw a punch but Vanitas stopped him by using the heel of his hand to break his nose. Demyx recoiled and fell to the floor with a bloody nose.

"If I were you," Vanitas continued. "I would find Xehanort's killer. Maybe then these lunatics will calm down."

He walked away, leaving us just as confused as before. We decided to take Demyx with us to tell Braig about Larxene, thinking that maybe Xion could do something about his broken nose. When we got back to the room Dilan was in, Xion was finishing her work up. We told Braig about what just happened and he wasn't happy, but he wasn't surprised either.

"Well something like that was bound to happen," he said.

By then, I had enough of Braig and his secrets. He was acting like he knew everything and wouldn't help us.

"Alright Braig no more secrets!" I shouted. "How did you know Xehanort? And how come none of this is a surprise to you?"

"Sora," he started, still being annoyingly calm. "You think now's the time to be turning on each other? As if. Now you have my word that I didn't kill anyone, so that means we're on the same side."

"Who said there were sides?" Riku asked, not trusting Braig either.

"You sure are making it seem like that."

"He's right," Xion said after she finished. "We can't afford to distrust each other, especially not now. If we don't trust each other, we won't survive this."

It was like she was talking in riddles. I was about to ask her what she meant when Terra came running in.

"What now?" Braig groaned.

"It's Saïx, he's dead!" Terra explained.

He lead us to the room he shared with Ienzo, Luxord, Demyx and Saïx and showed us Saïx lying on his bed, bleeding.

"He wasn't like that when I left him!" Demyx cried.

"The door was open when I got here," Terra told us. "So it could've been anyone."

"But I closed the door and locked myself out!"

"It's true," Kairi said. "When we came to talk to him, he locked himself out."

"So that means we have four suspects," Braig announced. "That's all four of you, sorry."

"I understand," Terra assured him.

"I don't!" Demyx snapped, "He was alive when I saw him!"

"Can't take any chances guys," he explained. Then it looked like he remembered something, "Where are Ienzo and Luxord?"

No one saw them since breakfast. That's when Braig really started to take charge.

"Alright, that's it no one else is dying under my watch!" He shouted. "Terra, Riku, you're going to help me get Larxene and Saïx's body out of sight. Sora, you still have the key to the common room?"

"Kairi has it," I told him.

"Okay Kairi, you're coming with us. The rest of you, go find your classmates and get them in the workshop room, I'm putting a stop to this even if it kills me."

"But Braig, what about—" Demyx was talking about his bloody nose, but Braig interrupted him.

"And will someone help Demyx?"

Xion volunteered, she still had the first aid kit on her. Braig, Terra and Riku went to work. I wanted to stay with Kairi, but she told me to find Aqua and everyone else to get them in the workshop room. So I left, but before I went looking for people, I had to talk to Xion, I had to know about her. She was sitting in the hallway, helping Demyx with his nose.

"Hey, Xion, can we talk?" I asked.

"Maybe," she replied. "If it's quick."

"Well, it's not that quick, I just wanted to know about you."

"It's…a long story, I can't tell it to you now."

"When can you tell me? What can you tell me?"

"Sora," she stopped and looked at me. "I promise I'll tell you everything…just not now. Go find Axel, he needs the company."

I didn't think I was going to get anything out of her, so I did what she said and went to find Axel. The first place I checked was our room, and he was there, lying on the bed, unmoving. I wasn't sure if he was alive or not, so I touched his arm, he was warm.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Making sure you're alive," I told him honestly.

"Someone else turn up dead?"

"Saïx."

"Oh," he didn't seem to care.

"So, are you okay?"

"Why would you care if I was okay?"

"Because it seems like you need a friend."

"But we're not friends, are we Sora?" He sat up and glared at me, "I don't know what you learned about me the last time you went through this, but that doesn't change the fact that we've never really spoken until now. You know, that's what really bugs me about you, you're more than willing to call a complete stranger 'friend' even though you don't know a damn thing about them. Maybe they don't wanna call you friend, maybe they don't want people to know their business, maybe they don't want your sympathy."

What he said kind of hurt. He was completely right, but he was completely wrong too. So what if I call people 'friends' even if I don't know them very well? If someone needs me to be there, I'll be there to help. There was nothing anyone could say that would change that.

I looked around the room, "I don't see anyone else in this room willing to help you."

Axel backed off and laid back down on the bed. He didn't say anything for a while. I was about to leave, when he said something else.

"Sora," he started. "When I died, how upset was Roxas?"

"Really upset, he even went to get revenge on Saïx when he started going on his killing spree," I explained.

"Really, I thought he'd be a little mopey."

"There really wasn't time to be 'mopey', he was already upset about killing Ienzo and we had to stop Saïx."

"Fair enough," he sat back up. "What's gonna happen now?"

"We're all meeting in the workshop room, all of us."

"So that means I have to come too."

He finally got up and we left the room. Demyx was outside with Naminé. He told us that Xion went to check on Dilan and that Naminé volunteered to find Ienzo and Luxord while he went to find Aqua. It figures, Aqua's the only one who probably didn't kill Saïx. They left while we headed to the workshop room on the third floor, we figured we'd check on Xion and Dilan on the way. But we heard metal clashing, so we carefully peaked into the third floor hallway.

Xion and Vanitas were sword fighting with each other.

A/N: Axel needs love, and by love, I mean development and by development, I mean bad things are going to happen to him. But you didn't hear it from me.


	14. Part II - Chapter 7

Scout: Yo, ain't this a little late?  
Mars: Scout? What are you doing here?  
Scout: I'm here to distract you.  
Mars: Distract me from what?  
Link, Riku and Axel: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Mars, happy birthday to you.  
Mars: Aw, you guys remembered...but my birthday's on Sunday.  
Link: Were you planning on uploading something on Sunday?  
Mars: Uploading? I'll be packing for my trip on Tuesday and preparing for my presentation on Monday and-  
Axel: Yeah, get to the chapter.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Kingdom Hearts...or the "Happy Birthday" song since that's copyrighted too.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part II - Chapter 7**

Me and Axel hid in the staircase while we watched Vanitas and Xion fight. Xion had the same sword she used last time when she went after Saïx, while Vanitas used a claymore sword with a black blade. Neither of us knew why, but we could guess from what they were saying.

"You must be stopped," she told him.

"What's stopping me gonna do?" He retorted. "We're in a cycle now, you kill me, I'll just wake up in two days."

"They don't deserve to be hurt!"

"Are you mad about, what's his name, Rucksack? Besides, what's it matter what they deserve? Their fate was sealed the moment they set foot in this cabin."

"I won't let that happen!"

He knocked her down, "What makes you think you can stop this? You can't beat me, and no one will listen to you. You're just a wallflower, and not just any wallflower, _our_ perfect little wallflower."

Xion got angry and charged at him, but he rammed his sword into her stomach. His sword disappeared from his hands and he walked down the hallway into the other staircase. When he left, me and Axel went to her, she was still alive, but barely.

Axel took her in his arms, "Xion, what was he talking about? About Roxas?"

She looked up at him with glassy eyes, "There's something you need to know about him…"

She whispered something into his ear and then went limp. I tried talking to her but Axel said it was too late, she was gone. I was left with more questions than answers. Then I remembered the sword she was using—it came from the library. I ran over to the library doors and saw that they were open, but who opened them? The only person with the keys was Vanitas, but why would he open the library? And why was the library locked this time, but not last time?

"Sora," Axel pulled me out of my thoughts. "What are you doing?"

"That sword came from the library," I told him. "But it was locked a short while ago."

He put Xion down and tried out the knob from the outside, "It is locked."

"What!" I checked and he was right, the knob was locked. "How's that possible?"

"It's probably one of those doors that can be open from the inside," he explained.

"Then that means…the person who was running when the lights went out was in the library!"

"Hold up, I'm not getting this."

I told him about how me, Riku and Kairi found Marluxia's body in the staircase and how Dilan was attacked when the lights went out.

"Marluxia, Dilan, Saïx…" Axel muttered. He shook his head, "I'm not seeing a connection."

"There's only one person who can give us answers," I said.

I went and picked up Xion's sword, planning on using it to get answers out of Vanitas. Axel stopped me before I could get to a staircase.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm gonna get answers from Vanitas," I told him, not letting him stop me.

"Are you crazy? You saw what he did to Xion, and she looked like she knew what she was doing!"

"It's the only way! Besides, why are you trying to stop me? You said so yourself, we're not friends."

"We're not," he said. "But if it weren't for you, I'd be dead by now. So the best way to repay you is to make sure you don't get killed too."

"But I couldn't save Roxas."

"Let me worry about Roxas, okay?"

Then, we heard Demyx shout from upstairs. I didn't hear what he was saying, but it sounded like he was in trouble. We went up the stairs to see what was happening when Demyx burst in through the door on the fifth and collapsed into Axel's arms, dead. There were throwing knifes in his back so I looked through the door and saw someone run down the hallway. There was no way I was about to let him escape again, so I ran into the hallway and I saw who he was.

"Luxord!" I shouted after him.

I gripped the sword and ran after him. I wasn't about to let him get away with this. I was going to catch him and demand answers. He ran into the staircase on the other side of the hallway, I went in after him and saw that he went down to the fourth floor. I followed him and I saw he took Ienzo hostage with an extra throwing knife.

"Come now Sora," he said. "Surely, we can be civil."

"You weren't civil when you killed Demyx!" I shouted.

"It's all in the game, you understand, don't you Ienzo?"

"No," Ienzo told him, scared and confused.

"The victims were all random," I muttered, putting all the pieces together. "You killed them, didn't you? Xehanort, Roxas, Marluxia, Dilan—"

"I'm afraid you have the wrong person, at least for Mister Xehanort and Roxas," Luxord admitted. "But I will take responsibility for the others; after all, a single killer does not make a game very challenging."

"If you didn't kill Roxas and Xehanort…"

He just admitted to Marluxia, Dilan and Saïx's deaths, but who killed Xehanort and Roxas? I was more confused than ever."

But he pulled me out of my thoughts, "Enough, Sora. Put your weapon down and back away unless you wish to be responsible for Ienzo's death."

I didn't want Ienzo to be killed so I put the sword on the ground and took a few steps back.

"Very good," he said. "Just enough distance for me to hit my target while Ienzo gets the sword."

He let go of Ienzo, but was prepared to throw the knife. Ienzo slowly walked over to the sword and picked it up. I saw that he was scared, but it looked like he was thinking of a way out.

"Bring it here Ienzo, if you don't wish for my knife to hit its mark," Luxord threatened.

He slowly turned around to bring the sword back and walked over to him. Suddenly, he took the sword and hit Luxord in the shoulder, killing him. It happened so fast I almost missed it. I was a little afraid of going near Ienzo, in case he was gonna hit me with the sword.

He looked at me, "It's over."

As much as I didn't want to believe it, he was right. After that there were no more murders, but too many questions. I didn't know the whole story and I felt like I needed to. Not to mention Vanitas was about to get away with killing Larxene and Xion and there was nothing I could do about it!

"If it was self-defense, there's nothing anyone can do about it," Braig explained to me. "Larxene probably would've killed him and Xion attacked him with a sword, you said so yourself."

"But it's wrong and you know it," I told him.

He groaned, "It doesn't matter what's wrong and what isn't at this point. So far the killing's stopped and that's all we have to settle for, at least for now."

He had a point, we caught one of the killers, so I guess we have to call this a victory. And even though Kairi was still alive, I couldn't help but feel like I lost. We were able to roam around for the rest of the day and we even ate dinner in the dining room. We had a curfew this time and we were sent to our rooms at around nine. I decided to talk to Axel so I could get at least some answers, at least about Roxas.

"You've only known Roxas for about a year, right?" He said.

"So? You've known him for less," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but I was the one who saved him."

"What?"

"I'm gonna assume you know about my brother Reno, right?"

"Yeah, Xehanort got him fired from Shin-Ra because he wouldn't help him get secrets."

"It goes further than that, it was because we took his experiment away from him."

I didn't understand.

"It was Roxas."

I still didn't get it. What did Roxas have to do with the experiment?

"Roxas was the experiment."

My eyes widened. I wanted to know more. If I had all the details, maybe I could figure out who killed him. Or maybe he killed Xehanort. I didn't know.

"Maybe in the next go-around, he could tell you himself."

That's when I felt guilty. He didn't know that if Kairi lived, there wouldn't be another time around. I had to tell him.

"Listen Axel," I started. "In order for the next cycle to happen, Kairi has to die."

He wasn't surprised or anything, he just raised an eyebrow, "Is that what you think?"

"Last time, I told Vanitas that I wanted to save Kairi and I did."

"_Just_ Kairi? That doesn't sound like you."

"What do you mean?"

"You're a goody-good, I bet you were upset that you couldn't save everyone. I bet you're upset now, even though both your friends are alive."

He was right, but I was sure that Kairi was the key. Now that she was safe, I didn't have to live through this nightmare again.

The next day was just like it was last time. The storm let up, the roads were clear, the police questioned us and we were going to be home that night. A police car was ready to take me, Riku and Kairi home. I was the last one of us to be questioned this time, Riku and Kairi went ahead of me to the police car that took us home. Vanitas waited for me in the lobby.

"Did you enjoy your stay?" He asked.

"Don't talk to me," I retorted.

"Fine," he walked back toward the stairs. "See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I turned back to face him, "But Kairi's safe!"

"She wasn't the only one you wanted to save, remember?"

Then, what I said in the first cycle echoed back through my mind.

"_If I could do these last three days over, I would save, not just her, everybody."_

I fell to my knees. I'd have to do all this over again. I had to save everybody to get out of the cycle.

"You look distressed, isn't this what you wanted?" He taunted.

I got back to my feet, there was no way I was going to let Vanitas get to me.

"Fine, I'll do this all again!" I shouted. "And I'll save everybody! Just you wait!"

He climbed up the stairs and opened the doors to the common room, "We'll see about that."

He closed the doors and disappeared into the room. I was about to leave when someone stopped me.

"Sora!" Axel called out.

"What now?" I asked, just wanting to be with Riku and Kairi.

"I need you to remember something next time," he explained. "It's not really for me, but for Roxas."

"Fine," I said. "What is it?"

"'Two become one, twilight'. That's what you have to say to him."

"What's that gonna do?"

"You'll have to trust me on this, okay? After that, you can ask him about Xehanort's experiment."

"Okay, bye."

I left and got into the car that waited for me with Riku and Kairi inside. It left almost as soon as I got in.

"It's going to be hard putting this behind us," Kairi told us.

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "People we know, people we go to school with are dead."

I'll save them. I made a silent promise to everyone that I'd save them no matter what. I tried to stay awake through the car ride so I could at least see my parents before I restarted, but I got drowsy and went to sleep.

Axel: What the hell just happened?  
Riku: Luxord went crazy?  
Axel: And I didn't help Xion?  
Mars: Maybe if you were armed...  
Axel: And who killed Xehanort? And Roxas?  
Mars: I'll upload Xehanort's death in Elucidation as soon as I finish it.  
Link: So probably this week.  
Mars: Probably. Also, speaking of Elucidation, someone requested that I put up a chapter of Aqua's death from Part I, go check it out.  
Riku: You guys should be reading those stories, puts things into better context, like Higurashi's Answer Arcs.


	15. Part III - Chapter 1

Link: It's Saturday.  
Riku: Happy Saturday, didn't you say you were going to upload something to Elucidation?  
Mars: Actually, I'm away on a school trip and I wasn't actually working on the story because I was too busy working on my real life stuff.  
Axel: Weren't you guys trapped in a snowstorm?  
Mars: We were trapped in New York on a snowstorm and had to leave a day late, can we get on with the story?

Disclaimer: I still don't own any Kingdom Hearts characters.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 1**

I was here again, in Xehanort's room on the first day. Vanitas reminded me of how I kept reliving the same three days. This is the third time I got here. Nothing before the moment matter, this is where everything started.

"This is our third meeting, is it not?" Xehanort asked me.

"Yeah, so?" I retorted.

"You weren't able to save everyone."

"You tricked me!" I accused Vanitas.

"You were the ones that set the parameters," Vanitas taunted. "It's not my fault you remembered wrong."

I got so angry, threw a punch but he quickly caught it and broke my wrist.

"You should know better Sora," Xehanort got up. "You've seen Vanitas kill at least one person in your experiences here."

"Larxene, Xion," I muttered through the pain, remembering the last cycle.

Xehanort came up to me, "Now, we can't have you walking out of here like that."

He grabbed my wrist and made it glow purple and the pain went away. I snatched it back to check it out and everything was okay.

I was surprised and suspicious, "What are you?"

He gave me a creepy grin, "I am a man of many talents Sora. Surely your classmates have informed you of their misgivings."

"Not all of them," I admitted quietly to myself.

That's when I remembered what Axel said about Roxas, how he was an 'experiment'. I left to go find Roxas. But before I could do that, I had to stop Braig from killing Xehanort again. So I went to the workshop room instead and I found him setting up.

He was surprised to see me, "Sora, you're early. I would think that you'd be—"

"Don't do it," I told him.

He was confused, "Don't do what?"

"Don't kill Xehanort."

He blinked, and then he laughed a phony laugh, "What makes you think—"

"This is my third time here. I know it's hard to believe, but if you kill Xehanort, a bunch of people will get killed."

He didn't say anything for a while. I was starting to think that maybe, because he lived the last time around, he didn't get the sense of déjà vu he got last time.

"I don't know why, but I believe you," he said. "There's something in me that knows you're right."

I told him everything about my first and second times going through the days. Of course, I left out motives again since it would take forever, besides, he probably knew why anyway.

"Great," he groaned. "He figured out a way to make your life hell."

He wasn't as mad as he was the last time, and I pointed it out to him.

"Who know? Maybe there's something in me that knows this is happening and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"But I can," I told him. "If I can save everyone, then the cycle will end."

"Good luck with that, if you were able to stop me once but Xehanort got killed anyway…"

He stopped mid-sentence and I had to wonder why.

"Maybe," he muttered. "If I go through with my plan but don't kill him…" He cleared his throat and talked normally, "Leave Xehanort to me, okay?"

I decided to trust Braig, after all, he's done nothing but help me through this whole thing. I didn't get a chance to talk to Roxas so the rest of the day continued like the last two times, but then something happened. After lunch, before the afternoon workshop, Vanitas told me that Braig wanted to see me in the workshop room, so I went. For some reason, Vanitas went with me.

"Xehanort's dead," he told me.

I went pale, this wasn't supposed to happen, we weren't supposed to find out until dinner. I didn't know what to do at this point.

"What's the matter Sora?" Vanitas asked. "Too much detraction for you to handle?"

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Whatever, I'm not the one who has to break out of this."

"Hey, no one asked you to be here, so why don't you beat it?" Braig told him.

He laughed and left. He was really starting to get on my nerves.

"So," Braig started. "Was Xehanort ever killed this early before?"

"Yeah, last time, I left the door open and someone went in a killed him," I explained.

"Someone? You didn't find out who it was?"

"No, Luxord went crazy and killed a bunch of people and Vanitas killed Larxene and Xion."

"That kid actually killed someone?"

He seemed shocked and angry, I told him that it was in "self-defense" but that only got him madder.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he killed Xehanort for sport!" He growled.

I was about to tell him that he probably didn't, but then I got to thinking, maybe he did do it. He did say last time that he was glad that Xehanort was dead. But I still thought that he was jumping to conclusions way too fast. I still wanted to know how exactly he knew Xehanort, but before I could ask him, he left to find Dilan.

There was nothing else I could do so I went to find Riku and Kairi. They were in the game room, playing darts, when I went up to them, they wondered where I was. I didn't know what to tell them, since neither of them died the last time around, they wouldn't believe me about the looping. So I just told them that Braig wanted me for something.

"What was it?" Kairi wondered.

"I can't tell you," I explained. "At least, not yet."

"When can you tell us?" Riku asked.

"I dunno, but I will tell you when the time is right."

I decided that was when everyone finds out that Xehanort's dead, or when another body shows up. For now, I wanted everyone to relax until the real danger began. After that, everything continued like normal, except the next workshop was delayed a little. I still didn't get a chance to talk to Roxas. When dinner came around, we didn't have to wait for Xehanort, we just went to the dining room and ate dinner, which was a nice change.

After that, we were able to hang out for a little while longer, we went to the library to see what Xehanort had in his shelves. I looked toward the back to look at some of the books on magic, maybe to find a way to get myself out of the cycle. I turned a corner and I saw something I hadn't seen in the last two cycles.

Dilan was on the floor, dead.

Someone else was killed on the first day.

Axel: Dilan's dead, again?  
Link: What a surprise.  
Mars: Yeah, I feel really bad, he's like the Kenny of this story. I haven't even got a chance to develop him yet.  
Riku: What's gonna happen now?  
Mars: Things get difficult.


	16. Part III - Chapter 2

Mars: I'm going to be honest I'm almost all caught up.  
Axel: Maybe you should write faster?  
Obi-Wan: Perhaps it isn't a good idea to rush her?  
Mars: I was busy most of last week.  
Obi-Wan: By the way, how was your trip?  
Mars: I drank too much and was a bitch.  
Axel: So you had a good time?

Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters, what aren't you getting?

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 2**

I ran to find Riku and Kairi, they were near the front, looking at the books.

"Go get Braig," I told them.

"Why?" Kairi asked.

"Just do it, I'll explain later."

Kairi went to get Braig while Riku stayed put, "Alright Sora, what's going on?"

I showed him Dilan's body. The first thing he did was check for a pulse.

"He's alive," he said. "But I don't know for how long."

That's when Braig came running in. He saw Dilan and went to check for a pulse, just like Riku did.

"Call nine-one-one," he ordered us.

That was something that just occurred to me. I don't think he ever thought to call the cops if Xehanort died, and we never discovered a body before the snowstorm. Me and Riku went to find a phone, taking Kairi with us. Luckily, there was one next to the library door so I picked it up.

There was no dial tone.

"What's the matter?" Riku asked, taking the phone. He put it down as soon as he figured it out, "Someone cut the phone line."

"Who would do that?" Kairi wondered.

"The same person who attacked Dilan."

There wasn't any time to talk about this, if we didn't do something, Dilan could die. I went to go find Xion. The first place I checked was her room. I knocked on the door and she was the one who answered.

"Xion, it's Dilan—he's been stabbed," I told her.

She was surprised, "Again?"

She quickly covered her mouth while I stared at her in shock. She remembered! She remembered the last cycle, where she had to stitch his stab wound closed. But there wasn't any time to think about it, I lead her to the library, grabbing a first aid kit on the way. When we got back to the library, Braig was performing CPR on Dilan. There wasn't anything I could do so I went out into the hallway.

I slumped down to the floor and I thought about how this could've happened. Everything was moving was too fast, no one else was supposed to die until the next day. Something was wrong, it wasn't just me who was changing everything. What made Luxord go on a killing spree last time? During the first time around, he said if he killed someone, he'd do it so that he wouldn't get caught. What was happening to us? It was then Riku and Kairi came back.

"Sora, why'd you run away like that?" Riku asked.

I told them everything, about Xehanort, about the repeats, everything. They looked more stunned than anything, I was worried they didn't believe me since neither of them died last time around.

"If everything's different," Kairi started. "Then it doesn't matter if you've done this before, it's not the same."

"Then that means you've never done this before," Riku explained. "If this is your third time and the events play out differently each time then—"

"Everything is different each time around," Xion interrupted.

She had opened the door and heard the last part of the conversation. I stood up to face her, if she knew something, then she was going to tell us, I just knew it.

"He won't let the same events play out so you can prevent them," she explained. "He'll keep doing something to change the events, like killing someone, making someone else kill Xehanort, restore the past cycle's memories to a person…"

"He? You mean Vanitas?" I wondered.

She nodded, "He's the time keeper of this game, he has powers over this space and time that can't be stopped."

"There got to be some way of stopping him," Riku said defiantly.

"If there is, I wouldn't know about it."

"Xion, what are you?" I finally asked.

Unfortunately, I didn't get an answer.

Braig came out of the library, "Dilan's dead."

We all stood there in silence. It wasn't the first time Dilan was killed, but the last time he was, Xehanort was already dead and Braig had already put everyone on lockdown. Everyone had to be told, otherwise they'd be in danger.

"You're not to tell anyone about this," Braig told us.

"You're kidding!" I retorted.

"Braig, if we start keeping secrets, everyone will get paranoid!" Xion explained.

"Well Sora, did telling everyone about the deaths the last two times do us any good?" He asked.

I gritted my teeth, "Of course—!"

"Let me rephrase that, did it ever stop anyone from killing?"

He had me there, "No."

"Okay, let's save some lives this time by keeping this our secret, understand?"

We mumbled yes and we were sent to our rooms for an early curfew. I wanted to ask Xion about what she really was, but she said that we had to go back to our rooms. I guessed I wasn't gonna get anything out of her, so I hoped Kairi would talk to her. When me and Riku got back to our rooms, Roxas and Axel were already there, talking.

"Hey," Roxas started. "Don't you guys think it's weird that we haven't seen Xehanort since he introduced himself to us this morning?"

Me and Riku looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"I feel like something happened to him. But I can't really explain it."

Since he died in the last cycle, he probably remembered that Xehanort was killed. But I finally had a chance to talk to him.

Instead of answering his questions, I told him the phrase, "Two become one, twilight."

Riku and Axel gave me some confused stares while Roxas just had a blank look on his face for about ten seconds. Finally, he recovered and shook his head.

"Well, are you going to answer me?" He asked, unaware of what just happened.

"You're not going to comment on that?" Axel wondered.

"Comment on what?"

"That phrase," Riku told him. "'Two become one, twilight'."

It was Roxas' turn to give confused stares, "What's that? Did someone just say that?"

"I did," I said. "It was something Xion told Axel."

This got Axel confused, "Xion did what now?"

I decided to tell them about my repeating days and about Xehanort and Dilan. Roxas was the one who believed me this time, but Axel didn't, at least it seemed like he didn't. I didn't bother convincing him, so I decided to ask Roxas about how he was an experiment for Xehanort.

"W-who told you that?" He asked, spooked. When I looked over at Axel, he understood, "Oh. I see."

It looked like it was hard for him to tell the story, so I told him to take his time.

"I don't remember when it all began," he explained. "All I remember is Xehanort, doing experiments on me, changing my appearance, who I was." He looked over at the vanity mirror, "I don't even know what my original face looked like."

"For the record," Axel butted in. "Right now, he has the same face as one of my brother's friends, Ventus. That's why I noticed him at first." He laid back on the bed, "Well, that and he was with a cute girl."

"Naminé or Xion?" Riku grinned, knowing that they were the only two girls Roxas exclusively hung out with.

"Who said it was either?"

"Besides, they look alike," Roxas joked.

"Knock it off, we're talking about you, not me," he sat up. "Anyway, when I met him last summer, we pretty much hit it off."

"You, me and—" Roxas wasn't about to let this girl drop.

It got me curious, who was the girl they were talking about?

Axel didn't let him finish, "We hit it off, and then she told me about the experiments, and that Roxas couldn't survive them much longer. So I did the only thing I had to. I convinced Reno to get him out of Xehanort's foster care."

Xehanort's foster care. The words hit me like a bolt of lightning, it was the same place Naminé wanted to get out of. She wanted out so bad, she was willing to kill for it. Maybe that's why she and Roxas stopped talking, she was resentful of him leaving her, she had to have been.

"And of course, Xehanort wasn't happy about it," Roxas continued.

"And he got Reno fired from Shin-Ra," I finished. "Naminé told that story the first time around."

"How polite of her," Axel rolled his eyes and laid back down on the bed. "She drug deals with Saïx you know."

"Yeah, I know."

Nothing else really happened after that. Braig made sure we were in our rooms when curfew came around and then we went to bed. But in the middle of the night, I heard Axel talking. I opened my eyes and I saw that he was on the phone with someone.

He was in mid-conversation with them. "…Where should we meet? …The roof? But won't we…" He looked over to the window, "Really? ...That's sounds like a pretty cool spot. I'll meet you there."

He hung up the phone and put on his coat. I expected him to head for the door, but he opened the window and climbed up to the roof the same way I escaped the room to confront Braig the first time around. I went to the window to listen in on the conversation so that what happened to Roxas last time wouldn't happen again. The snowstorm hadn't started yet, so Roxas would not get a phone call to meet someone outside for a while.

It was a few minutes before he started talking to someone, "Hey, want a drag?"

I recognized the voice of the other person, it was Xion, "Thanks…I thought you quit."

"Trying to, it's an expensive habit. What's your excuse?"

"I only smoke when you do."

"Well, bad habits are contagious."

"Like drinking?"

"Yeah…At least I know why Reno does it. Makes it hurt a little less."

"So why did you want to talk to me Axel?"

"Sora says he's repeating the same three days, and that you told me something last time for Roxas. What did it do?"

"It deprogramed him. He had a command in him that got him to do anything he was told, and he had no choice but to obey."

So that's why, somehow, the person who killed Roxas last time used the command to get him downstairs so they could kill them. There was only one person who could've done it then: Vanitas. I should've known.

"Okay, that makes sense. Question two, how come you and Sora remember all the loops?"

"In truth, Sora isn't remembering, Vanitas is recalling memories from different loops."

"Vanitas? Where does he fit into all this?"

"He's the one responsible for the looping."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain you."

"My remembering is an unwanted side effect."

"Why do you say that? If you remember, you can find a way out of this."

"That means I remember your death, and Roxas' death, and mine too."

"Wait, you died?!"

"In your arms, you don't remember? Maybe you lived to the end of the last cycle."

"No, I'm sure I could've remembered that."

"I remember it clearly, I had to tell you how to deprogram Roxas so that he doesn't die this time around."

"And I bet I was crying my eyes out."

There was a pause and I could tell there was tension in the air.

"…No actually."

"What. You must've remembered wrong."

Axel's response was really flat, like he couldn't believe what he just heard. It made me think about what kind of relationship he and Xion had. I've never seen them together, but then I thought about a couple of things. Like how when Naminé first told me and Kairi about his brother, she left the room because she didn't wanna hear it, then in the last time around she told me to take care of Axel.

"If you were in a situation like that, you remember every single detail…it was almost like you didn't care."

"That's a lie! I bet I cared!"

"Don't call me a liar! I remember it and you don't! You didn't care! You don't care if I die!"

"But Xion, I love you!"

"Don't say that! I don't wanna hear it!"

"Xion, please!"

Axel: Alright, I'm confused.  
Mars: Well, the next two chapters are going to be loaded with exposition. At this point Part III will be the longest part.  
Obi-Wan: Something tells me things won't get better after that.  
Axel: With the way everything's going, things are going to get worse before they get better.  
Mars: Anyway, Elucidation has Xehanort's death from Part II, you might wanna read that in order to find out who killed him then because there's no reason to reveal it in the story. Also once again, if there's something you want clarified, let me know so I can add it as a chapter in Elucidation.


	17. Part III - Chapter 3

Axel: Hey, it's Friday the thirteenth.  
Mars: Forget that, Majora's Mask comes out today!  
Link: Hooray I get to relive the same depressing three days.  
Axel: Just like this story.  
Mars: Anyway, I like to refer to these next two chapters as Exposition: The Chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 3**

I sat by the window in shock when I realized what Axel just said. He was in love with Xion. I couldn't understand since I've never seen them together before this. Then I heard him start to come down. I ran to my bed and pretty much threw myself under the covers, feeling lucky that Riku was a heavy sleeper. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep as Axel came back into the room.

All of a sudden, he was standing over me, "How much did you hear?"

I looked at him, "All of it."

He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed he was sharing with Roxas, making sure not to wake him up. I sat up and faced him.

"It all started when we first met last summer," he started to explain. "Reno was on some kind of assignment in Twilight Town, and since Shin-Ra owned the apartments, we had to be relocated on their say-so. Since it was only a month, Reno let Lea stay over at his best friend's while I was bored out of my mind in Twilight Town. Then, I noticed Roxas and Xion and I asked him why he was there."

"It was because of the Struggle tournament, right?" I tried to remember.

He was chosen to represent Kingdom High in that tournament. I remember that me and Riku were bummed out that we weren't picked, but we were happy that Roxas was.

"Yeah, that's right. Since I didn't have anyone else to talk to in the town, I started hanging out with them. And there were some days where Roxas was training all day so me and Xion spent it by ourselves." He started to get really shy, "And that's when I noticed that she was really sweet, kind, tough, in a quiet sort of way. One thing led to another and…you know how it goes."

I didn't really understand what he meant by that, but I got the gist of it, they fell in love. I could tell in Xion's voice that she loved him too. Then why were they friends anymore?

He started to smile, "Y'know, that was probably the best summer I ever had."

"So what happened?" I asked.

"Xehanort happened, what else? I had to support my brothers and Roxas, so I started dealing. Xion didn't wanna be associated with Saïx so she didn't hang out with us."

Suddenly, the phone rang, it must've been someone calling for Roxas. I picked it up at the second ring.

"Two become one," the voice on the other line said.

I knew almost immediately who it was, "Vanitas, you killed Roxas last time." I heard laughter on the other end and I gripped the phone in anger, "I should've known it was you! You're ruining everything so that I can't save everyone!"

"What's the matter Sora, you afraid of a challenge?" He taunted.

"Stop fooling around! I'll stop you from killing everyone!"

"Well in order for you to do that, you have to find my master's killer. Tell me Sora, how are you going to find that person if they don't know who they are themselves?"

I wanted to retort, but I heard the line click, silence, not even a dial tone. I wondered how the phones could still work locally, but I ignored it.

"Vanitas killed Roxas?" He asked.

"And Xion too," I told him. "They were fighting and—"

"That bastard!" Axel cursed, kicking the nightstand. "I'll kill him, I swear to God—"

"You can't," I realized. "I think he knows who killed Xehanort, we need him alive."

"Then we'll catch him and torture the information out of him!"

I've never seen Axel this way, he looked really hateful. I couldn't tell if he was acting weirdly like Luxord or if this was the way he always was.

"Will you two shut up?" Roxas grumbled, half-awake. "I'm trying to sleep."

He had a point, it was late and we stopped Vanitas from luring him out and killing him. I had to get to sleep so I could be ready to look for Xehanort and Dilan's murderers in the morning. I went under the covers and I heard Axel do the same, muttering something angry.

The next morning, we went down to breakfast without any announcement. Since this was different from the last two times, I wondered about what would happen. Would the workshops go on? What will Braig do now that he's decided to cover up the deaths?

"Since the snowstorm knocked out the phone lines, Dilan went to go get help, so there won't be any workshops until further notice," he announced.

That answered my question. I couldn't help but feel that this was a really bad idea. It was only a matter of time until people got suspicious, like Saïx or Luxord. Riku and Kairi thought so too.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say Braig killed Dilan," Kairi said.

"We don't know that he didn't," Riku pointed out.

"We don't," I realized.

I remembered what Vanitas said, how am I supposed to find that person if they didn't know who they are themselves? Could that mean that whoever's doing the killing this time was under some kind of control, like Roxas was? Or was Vanitas just messing with my head? Thinking about the whole thing was starting to make my head hurt.

Then I remembered there was one person who could help me, the one person who remembered everything, Xion. I told Riku and Kairi to go on without me after breakfast so I could talk to her.

I caught her in the lobby as she was leaving the dining room, "Alright Xion, I've had enough of this. What's really going on? Why do you remember the last cycles without Vanitas reminding you?"

She looked around the lobby, "Not here."

She led me up to the third floor in the library and closed the door behind us. I was a little nervous confronting her in the library, but I had to get answers.

"Alright Xion," I began. "Out with it, why do you remember the cycles? How did you know how to 'deprogram' Roxas? How do you know Vanitas?"

"I wish I could tell you," she said. "But I don't know how I know him. All I know is that we're connected somehow—related."

"Related? Is he your brother or something?"

"I don't know, I can't remember anything past when I woke up four years ago."

That's where she lost me. Four years ago meant back when she was in middle school, or something like that. Was she in a coma or something?

"I didn't have any idea of who I was, except for my name, and I didn't even know what that meant. I was found by the Lockheart family and they took me in and now I live and work for them."

I didn't know how to react to that. It sounded like she was a servant, but she didn't seem upset about it.

She noticed how I was looking and said, "Don't worry about it, they take really good care of me."

That was that. She told me all she knew and I didn't know anything I didn't already know before confronting her. I was hoping that maybe she could help me get out of this, even if it meant having to sacrifice a few people.

Then I heard someone's voice, "Time travel."

Ienzo came out from behind one of the bookshelves, holding a book in his hands. Maybe this was where he was in the last cycle, looking for something in the library. The first time around, he was killed after finding the murder weapon, so maybe last time he didn't go find the murder weapon and went to look through books in the library.

"A possible explanation for these events is time travel," he explained. "Certain types of time travel—such as going backwards using dark magic—has the side effect of memory loss. But those well-versed with dark magic have a high chance of being immune from that side effect. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Vanitas is immune and you are not."

"How do you know this?" Xion asked.

"Because I know what everyone was afraid to find out—I know Xehanort's secrets."

Axel: Well, that was a little unexpected.  
Mars: I had to do something with Ienzo, Xehanort couldn't have ruined Ienzo's life for no real reason.  
Link: That and he's the only Organization member who wasn't using his Nobody persona.  
Axel: But will he explain the weird behavior?  
Mars: Not until next week.


	18. Part III - Chapter 4

Mars: Oh crap.  
Axel: "Oh crap" what?  
Mars: I'm all caught up.  
Riku: What have you been doing?  
Mars: Playing Majora's Mask, what else?  
Axel: Well, stop playing and start writing otherwise you'll make everyone wait forever...you know it's true.

Disclaimer: Still not owning anything.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 4**

I was looking in the wrong place for answers. Xion didn't know anything, but Ienzo knew everything. Well, maybe not everything, but enough to get us out of this time loop. But first, we had to find out what he knew and how he knew it.

"It all started when I was eligible for a scholarship to Radiant Academy," he began. "Ansem the Wise took notice of me and even wanted to take me on as an apprentice—or an intern. Xehanort took notice of me and offered me an apprenticeship under his wing. I told him I had to think about it. And I looked into him, despite all the warnings not to."

It turned out that Xehanort was a Warlock, a mage who studies forbidden dark magic. He experimented on children who lived in his foster homes and used the results to further a forbidden project—the Replica project. Of course, Xehanort found out that Ienzo knew all this and took away his scholarship and credibility.

"That's when Braig came to me," he continued. "He knew I was innocent and helped me get into Kingdom High. He promised that I would become a scientist, despite what Xehanort did to me."

"Do you know how Braig knows Xehanort?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I've always wondered, but he's always dodged the question."

I groaned, I needed to know the connection between the two of them. Braig was hiding something important, something told me that I couldn't trust him unless I knew who he really was.

"Ienzo," Xion spoke up. "Do you know about time looping using dark magic?"

"There's no other kind," he replied like it was obvious. "At least not by mortal magic, there are some occurrences of déjà vu in some places but nothing in the extreme—"

"Can you tell us about it?" I interrupted, wanting to know exactly how this had been happening.

"Oh," he blinked. "It's a complicated spell to cast, you have to choose the people you will be affecting, the time to be looped and set an objective to be reached. If the objective is not reached when time runs out, the next time they fall asleep, the hearts all people affected will be sent back to a point in time where they woke up close to the start of the loop. Of course, the side effects are memory loss and heart corruption—"

"Heart corruption?" I blurted out.

"Yes, heart corruption, looping time is a powerful spell and will take its toll on everyone involved and—"

"Ienzo," I grabbed his shoulders. "Listen to me."

I told him all about the time looping, about Vanitas, about the murders, everything. He stared at me with wide-eyes.

"And this is the third time around?" He asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

He backed up, "This is terrible, heart corruption shouldn't be happening this early."

"But what does that mean?" Xion wondered.

She was getting worried, she couldn't have known about the corruption. I think she was starting to realize that Axel was affected by the corruption in the last cycle and that Braig was being affected too. That's what I was starting to think anyway.

"An unnecessary amount of magic was used to lock us into the time loop," Ienzo told us. "Almost as if corruption was the goal all along."

That must've been it. Xehanort and Vanitas wanted to time to loop so they could corrupt us. But what was the point? If we were in a time loop, we couldn't leave, there had to be more to this than what we were seeing.

All of a sudden, someone was banging on the door to the library, "Someone! Help!"

I recognized the voice, "That's Terra!"

I opened the door and I saw Terra standing in the doorway in complete shock. I've never seen him like this before, he was usually composed, even when Aqua was killed the first time around.

"Terra, what happened?" Xion asked.

"Th-they're dead!" He said to us in a panic.

"Who?"

"Larxene and Marluxia!"

He pointed to a room down the hall. I recognized it, it was the small living room that Dilan was stabbed in last time. I ran over to it and saw Marluxia and Larxene, dead. Marluxia was face down while Larxene was slumped against a chair, like she was fighting back. I knew this wasn't right. It didn't look like they were killed like the others. They were attacked, they fought back.

My first thought was Vanitas.

"Where is he?" I asked Xion and Ienzo when they came over.

"Who?" Ienzo wondered.

"Vanitas, he did this," I told them. "He needs to pay, for everything."

I started to run down the hall to find him, but Xion yelled for Terra to stop me. He grabbed me before I could get into the staircase. I was pretty strong—I am a swordfighter after all—but Terra was stronger. While he held me, Xion came up to me.

"Sora, you can't face him," she explained. "If I'm not match for him, you aren't either."

"So?!" I retorted.

"He could kill you!"

"So? We're just gonna start over again tomorrow night! What does it matter?"

"Interesting," Ienzo muttered. "What was the objective that needs to be reached for the looping to stop again?"

"For me to save everyone," I reminded him. I was confused, I already told him how Vanitas tricked me into setting the loop up.

"And your exact words were 'everyone'," he said. "Perhaps that includes Mister Xehanort."

Mars: I thought this chapter was a little short but now I'm thankful for my want of cliffhangers.  
Riku: Too bad your readers aren't fond of them.  
Mars: Sure they are, keeps 'em on edge.  
Axel: So are we ever getting back to the me and Xion thing?


	19. Part III - Chapter 5

Axel: How's it going?  
Mars: Still just one chapter ahead.  
Riku: If it's like this before the semester starts, how's it gonna be after?  
Mars: Not sure, might need to take a week off...or a month.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 5**

Ienzo was right, it all made sense. Why would he set all of this up if he wasn't going to live to see the result? It made me angrier just knowing that he has to live for me…for us to get out of this. I felt angrier than I've ever felt in my life. But was I really angry or was my heart getting corrupted by darkness? I didn't care, I had to get out of this at any cost.

"Sora," Xion's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You should go find Riku and Kairi and tell them what we just learned."

I was confused by the sudden change in subject, but I nodded, "O-okay."

"Terra," she put a hand on Terra's arm and he finally let me go. "We should talk."

"About what?" He asked.

"About Larxene and Marluxia," she said.

"I'll be looking more into this," Ienzo told us. "There must be a way to break out or take over this time looping."

Ienzo went back into the library and Xion and Terra went into one of the other rooms on that floor. I went to look for Riku and Kairi. I found them in the game room on the top floor, playing pool. It turns out Braig was patrolling the cabin, watching everyone like a hawk, so they had to act like nothing was wrong. I couldn't help but think it was only a matter of time before he found Larxene and Marluxia, and things would only get worse from there. We went to my room in case he or Vanitas came and listened in. Axel and Roxas were in the room, not doing much of anything. Axel was lying down on their bed while Roxas just stared out the window, watching the snowstorm.

"What're you guys doing in here?" I asked.

"Axel didn't wanna do anything," Roxas explained. "Besides, with a killer on the loose we're better off in here."

Since I told them about the time looping, I thought I'd also tell them what I was going to tell Riku and Kairi, about what Ienzo said. When I was finished explaining, everyone seemed to understand the situation a little better, especially Axel. It looked like he realized something important.

"That sounds about right for Xehanort," Roxas said. "Loop time, plunge a bunch of hearts into darkness, all in the name of 'science'."

"I think there's more to it than that," Riku added. "He chose Sora out of all of us, but why?"

"Braig keeps saying that Xehanort wanted to do something to me," I told them. "It was enough for him to kill him the first time around."

"But what could it be?" Kairi wondered. "You haven't really done anything to get Xehanort's attention."

None of us said anything for a while, so Axel spoke up, "Well since we can't figure out why Xehanort wants to mess with Sora, why don't we talk about the situation at hand? The corruption."

Riku nodded, "Axel's right, if we've learned anything about darkness in school, we've learned the effects on the heart."

"Irrational thinking," Kairi pointed out.

"Rage," Roxas added.

"Apathy," Axel said, like he knew more than us about it—and he probably did.

"People are already being affected by the corruption," Riku explained.

"But they can fight it off," Axel suggested. "If Xion said I didn't react to her dying in the last cycle, that means I was affected…but I don't feel that way at all now."

"Roxas just died," I told him. "Maybe the corruption got to you because you were upset."

"Negative emotions can strengthen the darkness," Riku agreed.

"Yeah, that's probably it," he said.

That's when the power went off, the same time it always did. Someone was going to get killed, I just knew it. I ran out of the room without warning, everyone was calling after me, but I had to find whoever was killed this time. I went into the staircase, but since the power was out, it was dark so I tripped and fell down a flight. Everything seemed to hurt, especially my face, I had a hard time getting up.

"Have a nice trip?" I heard Vanitas ask.

I squinted in the dark and I saw his outline. He laughed and started to up to the top floor as the power came back on. I picked myself off the floor and went after him. I stopped feeling the pain and practically ran up the stairs to him. He was already walking down the hall when I got up to the floor.

"Alright Vanitas, I've had enough of this!" I shouted, not caring who heard.

"Then maybe you should try harder next time," he taunted. "You've already failed this time around. Who knows how many are dead right now? Or who's going to be next? Maybe if Kairi dies again you'd be more motivated—"

I didn't let him finish, I ran at him, trying to punch him. He dodged the first one so I went for another, he dodged again. I kept throwing punches and he kept dodging them. I couldn't hit him, and I knew he'd probably kill me just like he killed Larxene and Xion last time. But I was so angry I didn't care, I just wanted him to shut up. He didn't know me, he didn't know what I was capable of, and I wanted to show him that.

All of a sudden, my fist hit something. His helmet cracked.

I hit him, I actually hit him.

I did something not even Xion could do.

As soon as I stopped feeling shocked, I thought I was going to die.

Instead, Vanitas laughed, "You are just what we expected Sora."

"What…?" I gasped, more confused than ever.

He turned around, "You should probably check on your friend, I'm afraid today's killer got to her."

As he walked down the hall toward Xehanort's room, I heard Kairi's voice, "Sora!"

She and Riku came out of the stairs, they stopped when they saw me.

"Sora, what happened?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, you look terrible," Kairi agreed.

The pain came back. I touched my face, it was probably all red now and gonna end up being black and blue. I felt something wet under my nose so that was probably bleeding.

"I fell down the stairs," I told them.

"And your hand?" Riku pointed to my hand.

The knuckles were bloody from when I cracked Vanitas' helmet. I guess I was just feeling it now.

"I hit Vanitas," I said.

They were surprised. I told them how Vanitas killed Larxene and Xion out of "self-defense" last time so they were just as shocked as I was. Before they could say anything else, Aqua called out attention. She just came out of the stairs on the other end of the hall. She came over to us and almost immediately asked about my face. I told her it was a long story and she seemed to drop it.

"Have you seen Terra?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's on the third floor talking to Xion," I told her. "Why?"

"I haven't seen him at all on this trip," she explained. "I'm worried, this isn't our first time meeting Mister Xehanort. He tried to exploit Terra and now…"

"Aqua," Riku spoke up when she didn't finish. "I'm sure Terra's fine."

"Yeah, we can go talk to him," I started leading them downstairs.

While I was heading to the third floor, I couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. Why wasn't Terra with Aqua? What was he doing all this time? And what did Xehanort do to him?

When we got to the room I saw Xion and Terra enter, I froze when I saw Roxas and Axel inside. Roxas was standing near the door with a sad look on his face while Axel was crouched and sobbing, I didn't need to see who he was crying over. I remembered something that Vanitas said last night.

"…_Tell me Sora, how are you going to find that person if they don't know who they are themselves?"_

"Where's Terra?"

Mars: Dun dun DUN.  
Axel: Well Xion's dead again.  
Riku: What's gonna happen now?  
Mars: I actually know...but I'm not telling anyone.  
Axel: Not even a hint?  
Mars: Absolutely not.


	20. Part III - Chapter 6

**EDIT: Coincidentally, this chapter was originally uploaded on my ten-year anniversary on . I sure have come a long way since then...**

Mars: Whew, finished, but just barely.  
Navi: Should I say the announcements?  
Mars: Not yet, first off, to the follower who requested that I write about who killed Marluxia in Part 2, because you don't allow PMs...it was Luxord, reread Chapter 14.  
Axel: You could've still wrote about it.  
Mars: It was a random act of violence, the Elucidation chapters are already short as is! It literally would've been "Luxord killed Marluxia because he can".  
Navi: Anyway readers, **this is the last weekly update**.  
Axel: What.  
Mars: The semester started, I just finished this chapter right before uploading, I can't guarantee a whole chapter every Friday anymore.  
Axel: Is there a bright side to this?  
Mars: You guys might get lucky and get more frequent updates.

Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts, what aren't you getting about this?

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 6**

"Where's Terra?" I demanded.

"We didn't see him," Roxas replied.

"What's going on?" Aqua pushed past me to get into the room. She saw Axel crouched on the ground, crying over someone, "Axel…?"

He turned toward us and showed us Xion's dead body. Aqua gasped in horror.

"Did Terra do this?" Axel asked, his voice filled with anger.

"No!" She retorted, "He couldn't have! Terra would never—!"

"He would if Vanitas was controlling him," I said darkly.

I could almost feel the darkness eating away at my heart, I tried my hardest to fight it, but it wasn't doing any good right now.

"Sora, what's going on?" Riku asked.

I turned to him and Kairi, "Xion's dead."

They gasped, surprised and upset.

"I think Vanitas is controlling Terra," I told everyone. "He told me last night that the killer might not know who they are."

"Then we go after Vanitas," Axel said, getting up. "Make him pay for what he's done to Xion!"

"I'm sorry," Aqua spoke up. "What are you all talking about?"

I was about to start explaining when I heard someone behind us, "What are you all doing here?"

It was Braig, but something about him was different. He seemed darker somehow, or maybe he was always like that for this cycle and I didn't notice because I didn't know about the corruption. But the look he had on his face told me that he would give us trouble.

"Something happened," Kairi told him.

He narrowed his eyes, "Why is it that every time I find a body you three are nearby?"

I started to panic, Larxene and Marluxia's bodies were still in the other room, and since we already know he could be affected by the corruption, who knows what he was thinking?

"Braig—" Riku was about to say something, but he shut up when Braig pointed his firearm at his face.

"Maybe if you three were out of the picture, the murders would stop," he said.

"Braig I couldn't have done it!" I shouted, trying to get through to him.

"You know, the more I think about what you told me, the more it doesn't make sense," he explained. "We're all reliving the same three days, as if!"

"You're not thinking straight, the time looping—!"

"Why don't you just shut up?" He pointed the firearm at me this time.

I thought I was going to die here, and I wondered what would happen to everyone else if I died. But all of a sudden, something hit Braig in the back of the head and he fell. We saw Ienzo behind him, holding a book in his hand.

"Not all dark magic is bad," he told us.

"Will he be all right?" Kairi wondered.

"He'll wake up," he said. "But I'm not sure if his state of mind will be any better. Where's Xion?"

"Dead," I told him.

He was taken aback, "But I thought of something that could help us end the repeating."

"I'm sorry," Aqua spoke up again. "I still don't understand what's going on."

I was about to explain, but Riku thought we should do something about the bodies. I looked in Braig's pockets and found the key to the common room. That was probably where Dilan's body was now. I went down to the second floor with Kairi, Aqua and Ienzo. Riku and Roxas went to get Larxene and Marluxia while Axel carried Xion's body and came with us. When I opened the door I saw that I was right, Dilan was already in there, wrapped in a tarp. We put all the bodies down and locked the door.

That's when I told Aqua the whole story, and Ienzo what happened since I left him and Xion. Aqua was horrified, while Ienzo was deep in thought.

"If you were able to hit Vanitas," he began. "Then maybe that means something. Exactly what, I don't seem to know." I reminded him that he told me that he found something that could end the time looping. "Oh yes," he said. "If Vanitas and Xion are connected, then maybe she could hijack the game."

"Game?" Kairi repeated, just as confused as the rest of us.

"The time looping," he explained. "The way the spell is set up is sort of a game—the book I read even concurs. However, the new parameters that are set don't go in effect until the next cycle."

"So we got two more cycles of this," Riku muttered. "At least."

"Okay," I said. "I just have to get through these three days two more times. I'll tell Xion about this when Vanitas makes me remember next time."

"Sora," Kairi spoke up. "Are you okay with this? You are the one who has to remember everything."

"And Xion," Axel reminded her.

"It's fine," I assured her. "I started this mess, I have to end it."

"You didn't start it Sora," Riku told me.

"But I did, Vanitas got me to repeat the days after Kairi was killed the first time around," I put my head in my hands, ashamed of what I had created. "I just wanted to save her."

"No one's blaming you Sora," I heard Aqua.

"I probably would've done the same thing," Axel said, kinda bitterly.

"So what do we do now?" Roxas asked after everyone was quiet for a while, "Everyone must be on edge by now."

"Braig probably made sure of that," Riku agreed. "Keeping everyone in the dark probably got them all paranoid."

"There is only one thing that we can do that might prove fruitful," Ienzo got up and looked at me. "You need to confront Vanitas, and get all the information you know."

"Even if he ends up killing me?" I had to ask, since I would be the only one remembering all this anyway.

"Even if," he nodded.

"Okay," I got up. "I'm going to the library to get the swords."

"You're not going alone?" Riku got up to try and stop me.

"I have to," I told him.

"He was able to land a punch on Vanitas, he has a better chance at getting information out of him," Ienzo explained.

Riku looked like he was about to argue, but I think he knew Ienzo was right. I was the only one who could do this. Besides, at the end of the three days, it wouldn't matter who lived and who died anyway.

"Fine," he said. "If that's the way it has to be, I'm going with you."

"No!" I shouted. "You can't! Vanitas—!"

"There's nothing you can say to change my mind Sora," he told me.

He was right. One of the things that me and Riku have in common is that we're both pretty stubborn, if we decide on something, there's nothing that could change our minds.

Before we could leave, Axel stopped us, "Wait. What about Braig or anyone else who might kill you guys?"

"Yeah," Roxas agreed. "Someone has to make sure you guys can get to Vanitas."

They had a point, besides, it wasn't like they were going with us to face Vanitas. So we all left and headed toward the library, intending to bring as much peace as we could bring to this cycle.

Mars: Alright people next chapter is the climax!  
Navi: I'm not the only one who notices that each part is seven chapters, right?  
Mars: It's a weird coincidence, if I didn't feel the need to upload this today, this would've been the last chapter of this part.  
Axel: This might seem a little off-topic but didn't Xehanort's voice actor die?  
Navi: Axel no!  
Mars: -bursts into tears- Spock's dead!  
Axel: Oops.


	21. Part III - Chapter 7

Axel: So it's been a month.  
Riku: What's new in your life?  
Mars: Can you say "Spring Musical"?  
Axel: Is that why this chapter took so long.  
Mars: The long and the short is yes. I'm on Spring Break at the moment, so the next chapter might come a little sooner, but don't hold me to that.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts, blah blah blah.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part III - Chapter 7**

Me, Riku, Roxas and Axel got to the library without running into anyone, Braig wasn't even where we left him. I worried about what he was going to do, but then I remembered that we had to kill Vanitas at any cost. Besides, it didn't matter if anyone died, there would be another cycle anyway. I went to the back of the library to where Vanitas showed us where the swords were the first time around. Since the books he used to open the bookcase were random, I was prepared to tip all of them back until the case open.

But Axel took one of the books, "Xion…"

"What about her?" Riku asked.

He showed us all the binding of the book, there was a script X carved into it, "Xion made this, I know she did."

"There's another one," Roxas pointed to another book with an X on it.

"These are the books that we have to use to unlock the bookcase," I realized. "Xion must've marked the books yesterday."

"Like she knew we would need them," Riku finished.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," Axel put the book back exactly where he took it.

All that was left was to figure out which order I had to tip them. It took me three tries, but I managed to figure it out. The bookcase sank into floor and revealed the wall of swords. I took the same one I took last time, plain-looking and sort-of heavy. Roxas took a similar one and Riku took a thinner one.

"You're not taking one Axel?" Roxas wondered.

"I was hoping that there'd be more than just swords back here," Axel replied. "I mean I'll use one but I'm much better with a throwing knife."

"There are throwing knifes in some books in here," I told him.

He seemed interested, "Which ones?"

"I don't really know, he took them out of a thick book near the front."

He went back to find the book, I was going to follow him when Riku asked, "So how did you know about this?"

"Vanitas showed us," I said. "We needed to fight Saïx the first time around since he killed Axel, Demyx and Dilan."

"And he killed Axel and Demyx because they're going to give him and his drug business up," Roxas finished. "He didn't kill them last time because he was killed…so what's stopping him from trying to kill them this time?"

That's when we heard a loud noise near the front of the library, like a door slamming. We all ran to the front to see Axel leaning up against the door. His shoulder was bleeding and he was out of breath.

"Axel!" Roxas cried.

"I'm fine," he told us. "It's just a scratch."

"Who was that?" Riku wondered.

"Saïx," Axel explained. "I guess he figured out the missing chaperone and students meant that they're dead."

He probably realized that thanks to the fact that people who died in the last cycle sorta remembered what happened. And it really didn't help that he was a raging psychopath. There was no other way out of the library that any of us knew of, we were trapped.

"Come out Axel!" Saïx yelled from the other side of the door, "I'll teach you what happens to snitches!"

"He's only here for me," I heard Axel mutter.

The right thing to do was to stop him, but we had to get out of here and kill Vanitas. He opened the door and ran out to distract Saïx. Riku and Roxas were about to go after him, but I slammed the door.

"We have to get to Vanitas," I told them.

"But Axel—" Roxas was about to complain, but I cut him off.

"Will be alive in the next cycle."

When the other side of the door got quiet, I opened it back up. There was no sign of Axel or Saïx, so I guess that meant either of them were killed. We went into the staircase and got up to the top floor, where Xehanort's room was. I knew Vanitas would be waiting there, probably with Terra guarding him. When we turned the corner to go down the hall to Xehanort's room, we saw Terra guarding the door. We didn't wanna kill him, so we had to distract him.

"I'll distract him," Riku said. "I've sparred with Terra before, I can hold my own."

"Okay," I had to agree, but Vanitas would probably make Terra ruthless, so he couldn't take him on alone. "Roxas, you go with him."

"But what about Vanitas?" He asked, "He'll kill you! At least let me—"

"You said you wanted to make sure we got to Vanitas," I reminded him. "If you go with Riku, he might still make it to Vanitas."

"Okay," he sighed in defeat.

"Hey Terra!" Riku called out, "Vanitas put you on guard duty or something? Why don't you man up and face us!"

"Yeah!" Roxas taunted, "Or are you scared that we'll whup your butt?"

Terra started running toward us. I went around the corner and hugged the wall while Riku and Roxas headed for the stairs with Terra on their heels. There was nothing standing in the way between me and Vanitas. I walked down the hall and opened the door to the room. I saw Vanitas sitting in the chair that I always saw Xehanort in, but instead of facing the fireplace, it was facing the door, like he was expecting me. Xehanort's body was face down on the ground in a pool of blood, untouched.

"What brings you here Sora?" Vanitas asked. "Have you come to kill me?"

I was about to say yes, but I realized that's what he wanted—for me to give in to the corruption. I had to tell myself that I didn't wanna kill him, that I wanted answers.

"You're fighting with yourself, aren't you?" He laughed, "You're almost ready."

"Tell me, ready for what?" I demanded, readying my sword.

"Why should I tell you?" He wondered, "What would happen to me if I say nothing?"

I couldn't threaten him, killing him is what he wanted. There must've been something I could do to get leverage against him. He needed me for something, but for what? Then, I got an idea.

"If you won't tell me," I began. I pointed the sword at my own chest, "I'll kill myself."

He started laughing again, "You sure are gutsy, threatening to kill yourself. What's that going to prove?"

"Nothing," I admitted. "But I'll kill myself again and again each time a new cycle repeats so that nothing gets done!"

I thought I finally had him when he stopped laughing. I thought I would finally get some answers.

"It seems like I underestimated you Sora," he stood up. "I honestly didn't think you'd have it in you to think of something like that. You'll remember everything if you die by your own terms." His black claymore appeared in his hand, "I guess I'll have to kill you and wipe this meeting from your memories!"

He charged at me, so I blocked. I didn't have time to think, I had to fight, I had to let my instincts take over. But what I didn't realize was that meant that I had to let the growing darkness inside me take over. It showed in my fighting, I was aggressive, harsh, ruthless, I had to stop myself before it was too late. I stopped and let Vanitas disarm me, even if it meant that I would die.

"You fool," he said as he pointed his sword at me. "You'd rather die than let the darkness in your heat take over?"

"Yeah, if I die, then the darkness wouldn't eat at my heart as much," I told him.

That was when Terra burst through the door, carrying Riku. He dropped him onto the floor, he was conscious, but his legs were bleeding.

"Ah, Terra, not a moment too soon," Vanitas smiled. He turned to me, "If you won't let the darkness in, then I'll just force in it."

I froze when I saw him turn to Terra, like he was giving him an order. Terra picked Riku up with one hand and with the other, stabbed him in the chest with the sword he got from the library. When he dropped Riku, something in me snapped. I charged at Vanitas in blind anger. I started throwing punches, he dodged most of them, but I landed some, I even got him to drop the claymore. I got him to the ground and I punched his helmet in the same place I did before, and it cracked open, revealing some of his face.

That's when I stopped.

I saw his eye, it was yellow, but there was something so familiar about it. I couldn't place it, but I felt like I knew it.

"You confronted me because you wanted to know what we were preparing you for," he said calmly. "I suppose it's time I show you."

He took his helmet off and I couldn't believe my eyes. His eyes were yellow, his hair was black, but he had my face! I was scared, more scared than I've ever been in my entire life. Maybe it was because of the corruption, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything, I felt completely numb.

"And now it's time for you to embrace the darkness!" He grabbed my shoulder and I felt something flow through me.

I felt like I was falling…

And everything went black.

Axel: What just happened?  
Riku: Did I DIE?!  
Mars: It's the luck of the draw Riku and I'm kinda glad it turned out that way. The next cycle will be breaking the mold, feel free to speculate readers.  
Axel: Wait, did I die?  
Mars: Oh and the next thing I'll be working on before the next chapter will be an Elucidation chapter, which will reveal an important detail for the next cycle.


	22. Part IV - Chapter 1

Axel: Finally!  
Mars: I don't wanna hear it, a musical and school really takes up all of your time.  
Navi: Didn't you also go to three different Broadway shows?  
Mars: That falls under school.  
Axel: Bet you had fun.  
Mars: I did.  
Axel: But you weren't writing this.  
Mars: Ugh, I wouldn't be getting this kind of frack from the Rent section.  
Navi: By the way guys, this isn't told from Sora's perspective, it's from **Riku's**.

Disclaimer: Still do not own anything relating to Kingdom Hearts.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part IV – Chapter 1**

I must've space out on the bus. The last few hours seemed so long ago. What was I thinking about to make me drift off like that?

_Xion. Change the rules._

What did that mean? I looked around on the bus to see where she was sitting. She and Namine were sitting right behind me and Kairi. Namine was into her drawing while Xion looked out the window. It looked like she was worrying about something.

I decided to get her attention, "Xion." She looked up. "Everything okay?"

She looked distant, "Everything's fine Riku."

There was something definitely bothering her, but what could it have been? Was it about this trip? Did she have a problem with the popular kids? Wait! It must've been about Roxas. After Roxas started to hang out with the popular kids, he left her and Namine out to dry.

It really made me mad, how he could just abandon them like that. It was one thing to ditch me, Sora and Kairi, but Xion and Namine were too shy to make friends on their own. I decided to confront Roxas later that day, but for the time being, I had to relax.

After all, we were about to stay at a cabin owned by Xehanort, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that he would give us a run for our money. I heard all sorts of stories about Xehanort and what he did to people.

That's when I heard Dilan ask Braig, "Why did Xehanort let us use his cabin for half price?"

He shrugged, "Why does it matter?"

"Xehanort is a dangerous man."

Braig took an uncharacteristically long pause, "…Yeah."

"How many of these students have had encounters with him before?"

"Nearly all of them."

"Then why are we going to stay at his secluded winter cabin?"

Braig chuckled, "Quite a conundrum, isn't it Dilan?"

I could hear Dilan's patience running out, "This is no laughing matter."

"But it's ironic, isn't it? We don't know why this place was chosen anymore. Almost like he chose it for us."

"With your help."

"I guess that's the case now."

"Braig, what did you do?"

"It's not what I did, it's what I'm going to do."

Dilan's tone became warning, "Braig…"

"Just don't worry about it, Xehanort will be taken care of."

"It feels like we've had this conversation before."

Braig suddenly went silent, "Now that you mention it…I have a terrible feeling about this Dilan."

Something was wrong, really wrong. I didn't know what they were talking about, but it filled me with a sense of dread. Maybe I forgot something…maybe we all forgot something.

It wasn't long before we finally got there. Sora and Kairi were fast asleep so I had to wake them. I looked at Kairi and I was almost tempted to let her sleep, she looked so adorable, but we had to go inside so I had to wake her. I went over to Sora and shook him awake. I expected him to look groggily at me, mad that I woke him from whatever good dream he was having, but something was off. He did look at me, but he looked at me with these weird eyes, I couldn't describe it.

I had to ask, "Sora, you okay?"

He blinked and his eyes were alert again, something else that tipped me off, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You looked at me weird."

"Because you woke me up!"

"I always have to wake you up!"

He blinked again, "I was having such a good dream before you woke me up."

"That's your excuse for everything!"

It wasn't, Sora never acted like this. Something was wrong today, very wrong.

When I got off the bus, I looked up at the cabin. It was sticking out of the rock and there were floors that seemed to stick out of the building. I heard stories about this place, how it was built, why it was build. Xehanort made it as weird as he could just because he could.

I muttered, "Weird rooms."

Kairi came up behind me, "But it's supposed to an upscale ski resort."

"That was before Xehanort bought it in the middle of construction. He took over and it ended up like…this."

Sora asked, "Does he use this place for anything?"

"Nope. He just lives here, alone. Kinda creepy…" I turned to him and I could've sworn I saw him anticipate my reply, "…isn't it?"

He replied without noticing that I hesitated, "And we're staying here…"

I could tell Kairi noticed something was wrong, but she said something as if it were a line from a play, "It's just for three days. What could possibly happen?"

Braig came up from behind us, "We could get snowed in, we are supposed to get a blizzard here tomorrow."

Annoyed, I snapped, "Isn't it your job not to scare the students?"

He started to walk past us. "As if. If you scare that easily, you never would've been chosen for this trip. There's scarier things than getting stranded in the mountains."

That's when I felt it, déjà vu. I had a strong feeling that I heard and said all this before. Was that what I was forgetting? Was that what we all were forgetting?

Dilan came and told us to get our bags from the bus since we were about to head inside. Sora went and got his bag without a word while Kairi and I took our time.

When Sora wasn't within earshot she asked, "Riku, is Sora acting weird to you?"

I couldn't lie, "Yeah, there's something off. Not just about him, about everything."

She stopped, "I woke up thinking something."

"What?"

"I was thinking…_he's in there somewhere_."

"There was a weird thought in my head too. It's different from yours."

"What is it?"

"_Xion. Change the rules._ Do you know what that means?"

She shook her head, "Why were you thinking of Xion?"

"I wish I knew, but there's more to this than just these thoughts."

"What?"

I looked her dead in the eye, "Kairi, I think we've been through all this before."

I didn't expect her to believe me. I wouldn't believe her if she told me the same thing. Hell, I didn't really believe it myself. How could we have done all this before? Time travel isn't real!

But she believed me, "Yeah, we've definitely done all this before. I can't really explain why, but it feels like yesterday was so long ago, even though it was yesterday."

That convinced me, the day before seemed like it happened ages ago. Like there was something that happened in that time. But there wasn't, we were on that bus.

Before we could talk anymore, some kind of voice talked to us, _"Get inside before Sora gets into a jealous rage."_

The voice was very familiar, but I couldn't place it.

Kairi panicked, "What was that?"

The voiced started to taunt us, _"Tick tock, tick tock, if you don't hurry all your friends will die."_

I took the voice seriously. I grabbed Kairi's hand and ran with her inside the cabin. The voice didn't say anything else to us, but something told me that he'll be back.

As we sat down, Xehanort himself came down the stairs to greet us. I got this unsettling vibe from him. I saw him lock eyes with Sora for a reason that I would find out before the three days were over.

He greeted us with a creepy grin, "Welcome, students of Kingdom High School, to my humble abode! This is the first time I've had guests, so I extend my warmest welcome to you all. Now, I don't want to keep you so I'll let your chaperones inform you of your activities for the next few days."

He left as quickly as he came. I couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, that something was missing. I didn't have time to wonder about it, Braig and Dilan were already talking about workshops and room assignments. I ended up sharing a room with Sora, Roxas and Axel. I thought that I would have a chance to confront Roxas about Xion and Namine.

I followed Sora up to our room. Neither of us said anything, what was there to say? Axel and Roxas were already up there, unpacking their stuff. When Sora was finished he left without a word.

Axel spoke up, "We need to talk."

I stared at him, "What."

"You, me, Roxas, Xion and Kairi."

"Why?"

"There's something going on here."

I was apprehensive about this, "Like what?"

There was a knock at our door, Axel went to answer it, "We're about to find out."

I saw Kairi and Xion at the door, "Xion?"

She looked right at me, "Riku, this isn't the first time we've been through this."

Even though I had my suspicions, I was surprised, "It's not."

"No. In fact, this is our fourth time reliving these days."

Axel: So much for suspense.  
Mars: You know what's happening.  
Axel: But you could've strung the readers along.  
Mars: No.  
Navi: Anyway you guys might want to check out Elucidation, there's two chapters you guys should read.


	23. Part IV - Chapter 2

Axel: It's a miracle!  
Mars: I was working, it took up a chuck of my time.  
Axel: Yeah, I guess we're lucky that you continued this at all.

Disclaimer: This is a fan-made project, I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part IV – Chapter 2**

Xion sat us down and explained to us exactly what was going on. Vanitas had used Sora to trap us into a three-day time loop, and every time we went through it, there would be someone randomly killing us. The more it was explained to me, the more it felt so familiar.

But there was something that didn't make sense, "But what about Sora? Does he know?"

Axel shook his head, "I got a thought in my head that told me something was up with Sora."

My eyes widened, "Did you say a thought?"

"Yeah, it just popped into my head on the bus ride."

Roxas spoke up, "The same thing happened to me."

Kairi nodded, "And us too!"

Xion asked, "What were they?"

Axel's thought was _Something's wrong with Sora._

Roxas had just thought _Kairi._

Kairi was thinking _He's in there somewhere._

While my thought was _Xion. Change the rules._

Xion went deep into thought, "People who were killed in the last cycle were starting to remember things in the next one. Maybe…you guys sent messages to yourselves."

I could see Axel trying to figure it out, "But the question is, what does it all mean?"

Roxas looked away, "I think…there's something more to mine, it felt incomplete."

Kairi put her hand on his shoulder, "There's something more to all of our thoughts."

Xion agreed, "There's some message you were trying to send. Maybe to finally end this."

Axel stood up, "But maybe we should focus on Sora. I don't know about you but it sounds like mine and Kairi's thoughts are related."

I had to agree, if something's wrong with Sora, Kairi and I would be the ones most concerned about him. I must not've known in the last cycle. That made me think, what happened in the last cycle? If we all had thoughts, then we all must've died.

I heard Kairi mutter her thought before turning to Xion, "Xion, what can Vanitas actually do?"

She listed off Vaintas' abilities, "Dark magic, sword fighting, martial arts, possession—"

I didn't let her finish, "Did you say possession?"

She gave me a questioning look, "You don't think Sora's—"

I cut her off again, "Of course I do. He was acting weird when he got off the bus, and when we were talking about the cabin, it was like he was reading lines off a script."

Axel nodded, "I hate to admit it, but Riku might be right about this. 'Something's wrong', 'He's in there somewhere', sounds a lot like possession to me."

I could see Xion realize how possible out theory could be, she was horrified, "Then…the situation is worse than we thought."

She explained how in the last cycle, she, Ienzo and Sora found out that corruption may have been the goal behind the time loop all along. Now she was just figuring out who Xehanort wanted to corrupt—Sora. But what I couldn't figure out is why. What was so special about Sora?

The sound of a watch beeping pulled me out of my thoughts.

It was Roxas', "We have to get to the workshops soon."

Xion put a plan together, "Okay, I'll go talk to Ienzo so he can find out what he can."

Axel wondered, "But what if he can't figure it out in time?"

"He will, I'm sure of it."

We all left for the workshops after that. Kairi and I tried our best to act like nothing was wrong so that Sora wouldn't get suspicious. It was hard hiding something from my best friend, but if Vanitas really did possess him, then there was no other choice. Fortunately, from what it looked like, Sora was put on autopilot and acted out everything as if it was all scripted for him.

But before lunch, I noticed that Braig was acting weird. While we were eating, they left the dining room. Remembering their conversation on the bus that morning, I decided to eavesdrop on them. They were out in the lobby, so I hid behind a potted plant.

Braig grunted, "Xehanort's dead."

Dilan nearly shouted, "What did you do Braig?!"

"I didn't do anything! I wanted to, but I didn't!"

"So then we have a killer in the cabin. I can't say I'm surprised."

"There's something else, there was a creepy kid that hung around here. Pretty sure he was the old man's butler."

Dilan was surprised, "I've never seen any kids besides our students."

They had to have been talking about Vanitas. So he's hiding somewhere while pulling Sora's strings.

Braig spoke up, "I think Sora's got something to do with this."

"Why do you say that?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

"That's not good enough Braig!"

"Then what is good enough Dilan? Another dead body?"

"Evidence, a motive, something more concrete than a gut feeling!"

"Well it's the only thing we've got!"

"Were you 'following your gut' when you sold Aeleus out to Xehanort?"

Both of them were quiet after that. I remembered Aeleus, he was one of the top athletes at our school last year. He never returned when the new school year began. Everyone thought that he signed on to a professional sporting team, although no one knew which one since he played so many sports. But I guess now I have an idea of what really happened to him.

Braig finally spoke up, "That's a low blow Dilan."

Dilan shook his head, "Why did you work for him in the first place?"

He got angry, "What do you think? I wanted power, Xehanort promised—!"

"Did you not care about the lives you would ruin in the process?"

"Of course not! You don't know what it's like Dilan, not to live up to your full potential!"

"And what of the students, some of them will never live up to their potential because Xehanort tried to make them into someone else!"

Braig stood quiet, "You know about the—"

Dilan interrupted him, "Replica project? Of course."

"But how?"

"Ienzo had told me a few days ago."

What was this "replica project"? I had to know and it seemed like Ienzo had all the answers. I snuck back into the dining room and sat with Sora and Kairi. I looked over at Ienzo and I saw that he and Xion were already talking. Roxas and Axel were with the popular kids, not acting out of place. I wondered how I was going to get them all in the same room without anyone—namely Sora—noticing. I had to tell them that Xehanort was dead.

Then, I heard that voice again, _"You heard that conversation huh?"_

It was Vanitas, I was sure of it.

"_Guess you know that Xehanort's dead and you probably think that I did it."_

Of course he did, who else could it have been?

"_The only problem is, Riku, that I didn't do it."_

What? He had to be lying.

"_You were right when you said that Sora was possessed. However, controlling him takes a lot more effort and I can't afford to be discovered by Xion."_

I looked over at Sora and I saw a gleam in his eye that told me that Vanitas was talking to me.

Vanitas cut me off before I could say anything, _"Don't do anything so rash Riku, Sora could go berserk at any time."_

Kairi noticed I was starting to get angry, "Riku, are you okay?"

Sora said the first thing that didn't sound staged, "Why do you look so angry?"

Vanitas started to taunt me, _"You wouldn't want anything to happen to Kairi, would you?"_

That bastard.

"Everything's fine."

Axel: Well, it seems like nothing got done.  
Mars: Xehanort's dead.  
Axel: But that's about it.  
Mars: Ugh.


	24. Part IV - Chapter 3

Axel: Oh, so you're alive.  
Mars: At this point, I don't know what you want me to say. "I had writer's block." "My job was eating away at my soul." "Someone I really care about wasn't interested in reading this."  
Link: That last one seemed specific.  
Mars: It's the ambiguous story of my life.

Disclaimers: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. Believe it or not the rights to the characters belong to Disney...I think.

Winter Cabin Conundrum  
**Part IV – Chapter 3**

I stared Sora down. How could Vanitas know what's going on? Then again, I didn't really know exactly what he was capable of. I had to talk to Xion to find out more about him. But in order for me to do that, I had to distract Sora so that Vanitas won't have him kill me, or worse, kill Kairi. The question was, how was I going to do it? I looked down at my lunch and I began thinking.

What would Vanitas expect me to do?

Protect Kairi.

Of course, I wasn't about to let him kill her just to get to me. Then what do I do to get around it?

Do the opposite.

That was it, I had to make it look like Vanitas had Kairi so that he wouldn't think that I would do anything rash. It was very risky but it was the only chance that I had. But that meant that I had to be careful, since Vanitas would have Kairi.

When we were finished with lunch, we had some time to kill before the afternoon workshops. I told Sora and Kairi to go to the game room and play pool or something.

Kairi asked, "Why won't you come with us?"

Sora agreed, "Yeah, we're on this trip together, aren't we?"

I could almost hear Vanitas taunting me through Sora.

I had to think of something, "I have to have a talk with Roxas about Xion."

Sora seemed a little confused, "What about her?"

I decided to tell him, "I noticed she was upset on the bus, and he hasn't been herself lately. It must have something to do with him."

Hopefully, that story would be good enough so that Vanitas would not get suspicious. Sora seemed to accept it and he and Kairi went upstairs. I was off the hook, for now. I went to look for Xion, she was still in the dining room, talking to Ienzo.

When Ienzo saw me approached them, he asked, "Riku, is what Xion is saying true?"

I nodded, "If it's about time looping, it is."

He narrowed his eyes, "I knew it."

Xion was surprised, "What do you mean?"

He explained, "I've had this terrible feeling, like the darkness is bearing down on us. Have either of you felt it?"

Now that he mentioned it, there was this feeling of darkness that was coupled with the déjà vu I was feeling.

But then I thought, "What does darkness have to do with time looping?"

As if it was obvious he said, "It's the only real way to create a time loop."

He went on to explain everything about time looping, how the spell is cast, how it affected the people involved and the side effects—memory loss and heart corruption.

Xion spoke up, "In the last cycle, you figured out that heart corruption was the real goal of the time looping."

He was not surprised, "Of course, with this much darkness—how many cycles has it been again?"

"Four cycles."

"Yes, that makes sense. Did I have any other findings Xion?"

She looked down, "I was killed before you could find out anything else."

I was trying to piece together what happened at the end of the last cycle. Xion was dead, Sora was possessed. The only two people who could carry information from one cycle to other were either dead or compromised.

Just then, the strangest thing happened to me. I had a vision, or a flashback.

_I was in my room with Sora, Kairi, Roxas and Axel during a heavy snowstorm. _

_Axel was in the middle of talking, "…didn't react to her dying in the last cycle, that means I was affected…but I don't feel that way at all now."_

_Sora tried to explain, "Roxas just died. Maybe the corruption got to you because you were upset."_

_I agreed, "Negative emotions can strengthen the darkness."_

_He nodded. "Yeah, that's probably it."_

_Then, without warning, the power went out, mostly likely knocked out by the blizzard. Sora suddenly ran out of the room. We all tried calling out to him, but there was nothing stopping him. He was probably stopping someone else from getting killed, after all blackouts are a good opportunity for a murderer. _

_Roxas spoke up, "Do any of you remember anything from the last cycle?" _

_I didn't, and it seemed that Kairi and Axel didn't either. _

_He muttered, "Then I was the only one."_

_Kairi was concerned, "What are you talking about Roxas?"_

_He became indignant, "Don't you get it? If we die, we take memories onto the next cycle. We might not remember them, but they're there!"_

_Axel rolled his eyes, "Great, but what're we going to do with a sense of déjà vu?"_

_Roxas scoured at him, "A lot if we can concentrate it! Like a thought!"_

_I saw where he was going with this, "Like a message, just in case we find out something that Sora and Xion don't know?"_

_Kairi smiled, "That's a great idea! If we have messages for them, then we can actually help them!"_

_Axel groaned, "If you're planning on doing something like that, it'd have to be condensed to a single sentence. You can't recite a whole paragraph from a book unless you study it and if you probably learn some valuable information, you'd probably be dead pretty time soon."_

_I got annoyed, "Is there a point to this."_

_He seemed offended, "I'm trying to help you out. Judging by how little Roxas remembers, you'd have to repeat the message a couple of times in order for it to get received."_

_Roxas agreed, "He's right. If we find out something we need to repeat it to ourselves to make sure we remember it."_

_I pointed out a flaw in the logic, "But if we wake up at the beginning of all of this, with no memory, a single sentence doesn't make sense."_

_Kairi assured me, "That's where Sora and Xion remind us."_

_Roxas frowned, "But Sora and Xion aren't here right now. And we might not get a chance to tell them about sending messages."_

_I was about to go find Sora, when Axel spoke up, "Why should we leave it up to them anyway? We're part of this too."_

_I grimaced at him, "Are you saying they can't handle it?"_

_He glowered right back at me, "They shouldn't be handling it alone. You're Sora's 'best friend' you ever think about how he has to relive the same three days, worried about who's going to kill or be killed and feeling like he's the only one who can stop this?"_

_His words stung, mostly because they were true. I wasn't thinking about how Sora was dealing with all this. I wondered he felt like he was alone for all this. _

_Axel continued, "And Xion, she has to remember dying with the person she loves staring blankly at her." _

_When he started to leave, Kairi stopped him, "Just where are you going?"_

"_I'm going to find her, and I'm going to tell her that she's not alone."_

_He left with Roxas going after him, leaving me and Kairi alone. I could not shake the guilt, had I become someone who Sora could not depend on? What kind of friend was I?_

_Kairi got my attention, "Riku, let's go find him."_

Xion's voice brought me back to the present, "Riku? Are you all right?"

I began to tell her, "The thoughts, they _were_ messages to ourselves.

Ienzo was surprised, "You figured out how to send thoughts from one cycle to the next?"

I told them all about the flashback and what I learned from it. The more I talked about it, the more impressed Ienzo seemed.

When I was finished he said, "That's remarkable, an intact memory must mean that it cut through the darkness—" He cut himself off, realizing something, "Or it traveled through."

I didn't feel like explaining, so I didn't say anything.

Xion spoke up instead, "Ienzo, what does this mean?"

He smiled, "It means we have a chance to pick up where we left off."

Riku: It's been three chapter and we haven't gotten past the first day?  
Mars: Let's be honest, there's two days to cover in each part while the third day is an epilogue.  
Axel: So are we getting to the third day in this part or are you not telling?  
Link: I think you can guess by now.  
Axel: Can you at least tell us what made you continue? Was it another playthrough of Kingdom Hearts 2?  
Mars: Actually it was watching videos of Yandere Simulator. And I'm happy to report that this story is nowhere near as messed up as that game.  
Riku: Wait, why were you looking it up?  
Mars: It's really interesting to follow a game AS it's being developed.


End file.
